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HINTS 



^1.15 



ON 



CHEESE-MAKING, 



TOR THE 



DaIEYMAN^, the FACTORYMAlsr, 



AND THE 



M-A,]N'XJFA.CTURER. 



BY T. D. CUHTIS 



\i 



^)< 







TJTICA, :>^. Y. 
ROBERTS, PRINTER, MORNING HERALD ESTABLISHMENT. 

IS'ZO. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by 

THOMAS DAY CURTIS, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Northern District of 

New York. 






TO 



INTRODUCTORY 



The following pages comprise the series of articles 
which appeared, during the last season, in the columns 
of the Utica Mokning and Weekly Heeald. It is not 
claimed that they exhaust the several questions discussed ; 
but it is believed that they constitute the most practical 
treatise on cheese-making that has yet appeared, and that 
they embrace the leading features and indicate the more 
advanced methods of the art as practiced by the best 
manufacturers. Every experienced cheese-maker may find 
something in them to object to and criticise, as there is 
diversity of opinion on many, as yet, not definitely settled 
questions. The writer would not check honest and in- 
telligent criticism, if he could, but, on the contrary, en- 
courage it. ISTor would he have others adopt any of the 
suggestions, methods or practices herein mentioned, if 
they think they have better of their ov/n. He would 
rather stimulate independent thought and action, and 
urge each to observe closely, experiment thoroughly, and 
be guided by his own experience. Beginners, without 
a complete knowledge of all the branches of cheese- 
making, it is believed, will be able to glean from these 



IV 

pages what will afford valuable assistance to them ; but 

they should accept nothing as conclusive. There is much 

to be discovered and learned about cheese-making. Those 

who have worked at the business for years, without 

material progress, are not as likely to make important 

discoveries or improvements as those who now or may 

hereafter come to a knowledge of the subject with fresh 

minds and faculties newly stimulated. They will begin 

where the old cheese-makers leave off, and ought to be 

able to make advances in the work thus far developed by 

their predecessors. That each may keep his wits about 

him and add something valuable to our present stock 

of knowledge in regard to cheese-making, is the earnest 

wish of 

THE AUTHOR. 

Utica, January, 1870. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Inteoductory, 5 

Building Cheese Factories, 9 

Production^ op Milk, 14 

Composition of Milk, 18 

Taints and Odors, 23 

Cooling Milk, 27 

Delivering Milk, 31 

Receiving Milk, 36 

Big Averages, 40 

Conductors, Strainers, &c., 45 

Color, 49 

Rennets, 55 

Preparing Rennet, 60 

Setting, 64 

Cutting Curds, 68 

Heat, 73 

Acid, 79 

Dipping Curds, 84 

Salting Curds, 87 

Tainted Milk, 91 

Curing, 93 

Greasing Cheese, 95 

Skippers, 99 

Cheddar Process, 102 



HINTS ON OHEESE-MAKINa. 



CHAPTER I. 

BUILDING CHEESE-FACTORIES. 

We frequently receive inquiries from parties who 
contemplate building cheese-fixctories, regarding certain 
details wliicli none but tliose wlio have actual experi- 
ence can readily carry out. For the benefit of all need- 
ing such information, we have taken pains to prepare 
the following : 

Small or mediam-sizod factories now seem to be in 
order. People do not like to carry milk long distances, 
and this fact undoubtedly accounts for the tendency to 
small factories, conveniently located, We will give the 
size of a building suitable for a dairy of 300 to 500 
cows. Let it be 80 by 26 feet, with 16 feet posts and 
two floors. From one end of the lower story take 24 
feet for a make room, leaving the remainder for a cur- 
insr room. Should more than one vat be used, the 
make room will need to be about six feet larger one 
way. It may be made so by taking the space off from 
the curing room, or by putting a projection on the side. 
The upper story will be used for curing, but should 
be partitioned off the same as the lower story. The 
room over the make room should be lathed and plas- 
tered, and provided with heating apparatus, so as to 
make a suitable place for curing early and late made 
cheese. The building may be cheap, or as expensive as 
desired. 

B 



10 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

Either setters and ranges, or the old style tables, may 
be used. The latter, since small-sized cheeses have 
come in fashion, are the more common. They are quite 
as cheap and convenient, and by using them, factory- 
men avoid the annoyance consequent upon the pre- 
tended patent right which is claimed on the rails and 
turners. 

AYe shall not recommend any particular style of vat, 
since by doing so we should seem to condemn others. 
But we will mention the fact that for small factories, 
vats with self-heaters are preferable and the more eco- 
nomical. A self-heater can be set up and run any- 
where, with a piece of stove-pipe to conduct off the 
smoke, and the expense of boilers, mason-work, etc., is 
avoided. Five or six cords of maple stove-wood, split 
fine and well seasoned, will run a good self-heater 
through the season. 

The appearance of a dairy depends very much on 
the trueness, as Avell as uniformity in hight, of the 
cheeses. Good presses and hoops are therefore essen- 
tial, and save a great deal of trouble as well as give a 
great deal of satisfaction. The press, therefore, needs 
to be made heavy and strong, so as not to spring or 
warp. Let tlie sill be 14 by 4 inches ; the beam, 10 by 
6 inches ; posts, 4 by 11 inches, slanted from the sill 
upward to 10, the width of the beam. The sill and 
beam should be boxed into the posts three-fourths of an 
inch, and the posts should extend above the beam some 
4 inches or more. The top of the sill should stand 
about 2 feet from the floor. The space between the sill 
and beam should be 2 feet 4 inches. The lateral space 
allowed for each hoop should be 2 feet ; and in each 
space between the hoops the sill and beam should be 
held in place by seven-eighths inch rods of iron. In the 



BUILDIN^G CHEESE-FACTORIES. 11 

first space from either end, a single rod is sufficient ; the 
next should have two rods, and so on, alternately. The 
single rod should extend through the middle of the sill 
and beam, and have heavy washers attached to each 
end, to prevent the head or nut from settling into the 
wood. The double rods should go through the edges 
of the beam and sill, and through heavy washers of 
iron on the bottom of the sill, and through strong straps 
extending across the top of the beam. The presses 
should be made for pressing four or six cheeses, and be 
made of hard, seasoned timber. The screws should be 
1| inch. Of the various kinds of screws introduced, 
we know of none better than the old-fashioned ones, 
with holes through them to receive the bar. 

The curd-sink is an important thing in a factory. Its 
construction is always a matter of considerable specu- 
lation and perplexity. We will give dimensions for 
one suitable for a factory of the size we have indicated. 
It should be 16 feet long, 2 feet 10 inches in width in- 
side, and 1 foot deep. The bottom should be IJ inch 
thick, and the sides 1 inch thick. The legs should be 
8 feet high, extending up the sides, so that the top of 
the sink will be 3 feet from the floor. The sink should 
be made of clear, seasoned pine, and the legs be well 
braced, with cross and side pieces connecting them 
about 6 inches from the floor. Racks and a cloth 
strainer may be used, or a false bottom with perforated 
tin strainers may be substituted. 

The proper hight of the weighing can, of the dump- 
ing window from the ground, and the best apparatus for 
unloading, are generally matters quite perplexing. The 
proper hight of the receiving can is that which gives a 
gentle slope to the conductor, as too much current not 
only causes the milk to slop over the sides of the 



12 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

strainer, but drives the dirt through the strainer. 
With vats 8 feet 2 inclies high, the platform for the 
scales should be 3 feet 8 inches from the floor. 

Of the many appliances used for unloading, none is 
simpler, cheaper or more satisfactory than the crane. 
Make it of scantling 4 by 4 inches, the upright 8 feet 
long, and the arm 7 feet. Hang it as you would a 
barn-door. Fasten one end of a strong half or three- 
quarter inch rope to the end of the arm ; run it through 
a pully to which is attached the tongs ; then over a 4 
inch pully above, near the end of the arm ; run it back 
over a similar pully next to the upright, then down to 
a 3 inch roller, with a crank, at a convenient hight for 
turning. One end of the crank must be sustained by a 
strong iron strap, bowing outward, in the direction of 
the arm, to admit the roller (about 6 inches long) 
lengthwise, and fastened to the upright above and 
below. 

The window-sill should be not more than two or 
three inches above the edge of the receiving-can, 
which should stand close to the window, just clearing 
the sill. The road should be eighteen inches below 
the platform on which stand the scales and weighing 
can. Then the can, when raised just enough to clear 
the wagon-box and wheels, will be of the right hight 
for dumping when swung round to the window. Many 
make the, mistake of getting the road too low, which 
causes the unnecessary work of raising the milk 3 or 4 
feet by hand before it can be dumped, and wastes 
strength and time, both in raising the can and lowering 
it back again into the wagon after it is emptied. 

In buildinoj a factory, every provision should be 
made for cleanliness. It should be located near a liv- 
ing spring of water, ranging in temperature somewhere 



BUILDING CHEESE-FACTORIES. 13 

between 45^ and 55°. There should be sufficient 
water to fill, at all times, an inch pipe, and care should 
be taken to secure a fair head — enough to carry the 
water above the vats, at least. The water should be 
carried in pipes under the building, along by the ends 
of the vats where it is wanted, with penstocks rising 
from the pipe, to furnish water for each vat. The fau- 
cets in the penstocks should bo all of the same hight — 
if any difference is made, the one farthest from the 
head might be a quarter or half an inch the lowest. 
Outside should be a penstock, to carry off" the super- 
fluous water. The outlet to this should be a few inches 
higher than the faucets in the penstocks for supplying 
the vats with water. This is necessary to secure a flow 
of water in the factory. In freezing weather, and 
during the winter, the penstocks in the factory can be 
removed, until needed for use, and the holes in the pipe 
beneath plugged up. An extra faucet in one of the 
penstocks at the ends of the vats, inserted high enough 
from the floor to set a pail under, will supply all the 
necessar}^ water for cleaning and other purposes. 

b2 



CHAPTER 11. 

PRODUCTION OF MILK. 

The requisites of good milk have been so frequently 
and fully discussed, that we need not more than briefly 
advert to them now. The importance of good milk, 
for either cheese or butter, will be conceded, and there- 
fore the question need not be argued. 

The first requisites of good milk are good cows. 
But these will disappoint their owners if they have not 
good keep. Plenty of good clean hay and pure water, 
with warm quarters, are indispensable. The old-fash- 
ioned method of allowing cows, or other cattle, to 
weather all kinds of storms, with a snow-bank for a 
bed at night, we believe is pretty effectually done away 
with. It has been found that it does not pa}^ It is 
not yet quite so universally admitted that generous feed- 
ing is equally advantageous, nor that a warm stable is as 
much an advance on an open, cold one, where the cows 
stand and shiver throughout the twenty-four hours, as 
a common shelter is an improvement on no shelter. 
Yet. a warm stable, which may be liad for a small 
expense, is decided econoni}", in the saving of food, as 
well as a comfort to the cows ; and generous feeding 
will be found a profitable investment, both by the 
increased flow of milk and by its increased richness. 
'A poorly-kept cow will give less milk than a well-kept 
one, and its poorer qualit}- will be more manifest than 
the diminution in quantit}^ When turned out to grass, 
if the feed should prove good, it will take the cow 
weeks to build up her system and get in the condition 
she should have been in at the start ; and though the 



PRODUCTION OF MILK. 15 

quantity and quality of her milk will improve, she will 
reach the time when the mess naturally begins to 
shrink before she will have thoroughly recuperated. 
After this, the richness of the milk will probably be 
satisfactory. But in case the season should open dry 
and cold, so that the grass starts slowl}^, and is then 
followed by the hot dry weather of July and August, 
as is not unfrequently the case, a cow that starts 
" spring poor" will scarcely get in good condition 
before the grass is nipped by the fall frosts and it 
becomes necessary to begin to fodder. 

There is a marked difference in the quality of the 
messes of milk delivered at a cheese-factory. The "use 
of the lactometer and cream-gauges will show this. It 
will be an interesting experiment, for cheese-makers 
who never tried it, to test in this way the quality of 
the milk delivered by the different patrons, and then 
ascertain the style in which each keeps his cows, the 
character of the pastures of each, the kind of water 
which the pastures afford — whether brook, river, swamp 
or spring — and to note any other facts and conditions 
which may be apparent or may suggest themselves. It 
will be found, wc think, that bad wintering and poor 
pastures have as much or more to do than anything 
else with the production of poor milk. No breed of 
cows nor selection of a dairy can wholly counteract 
these evils. The yield of milk will undoubtedly be 
greater and better with some cows than with others ; and 
so with naturally good cows, good wintering and pastur- 
ing will show quite as marked improvements. 

We have in our mind an instance where, at the open- 
ing of a cheese-factory, only a few of the farmers, hav- 
ing the largest dairies, delivered milk. They were all 
men who fed their cows well during the winter, and 



16 HINTS ON" CHEESE-MAKING. 

gave them meal before and after coming in. The 
result was an astonishingly large yield of cheese from 
milk at that season of the year. But as the messes 
increased, and milk from dairies poorly-kept came in, 
the yield of cheese in proportion to the number of 
pounds of milk steadily diminished. The lactometer 
and cream-gauges showed that the poorest milk came 
from the poorest-kept cows. 

The forepart of the season proved a cold and wet 
one, which made the grass more juicy and less nutri- 
tious. This, with the accidental or intentional watering 
which the milk got from the rain falling in the cans, 
either at home or on the road, w^as also believed to 
decrease the yield of cheese. It appeared that milk 
coming long distances through the rain, other things 
being equal, showed more water than that brought 
short distances. Manifestly, some sort of shelter to the 
cans should be devised, to be used both at home and 
on the road, during rainy weather — and the same for 
keeping off the rays of the sun, in fair weather, is 
equally desirable. 

All through the season, in the instance referred 
to, there was a marked difference in the quality of 
the milk of the well-kept and of the poorly-kept 
dairies. Swampy pastures also seemed to impoverish 
the milk. Those pastures that were dry, with pure 
water accessible, appeared to produce the richest milk. 
While the milk of the best dairies, on being tested, 
would indicate a yield of a pound of cheese to eight or 
nine pounds of milk, the milk of others would not 
yield a pound of cheese to less than eleven or twelve 
pounds of milk. The average number of pounds of 
milk for a pound of cheese, during the season, was 
about 9.9. 



PRODUCTION OF MILK. 17 

In the foregoing, will be seen a manifest objection to 
the foctoiy system, as at present conducted. The 
quality of the milk delivered is nowhere taken into 
consideration. The man who has a well-selected dairj^, 
keeps it well, and delivers milk that will turn out, 
for the season, a hundred pounds of cheese for every 
nine hundred pounds of milk, gets no more returns for 
a given number of pounds of milk than the man who 
delivers milk so poor that twelve hundred pounds of it 
will not make more than a hundred pounds of cheese, 
or the same as the former's nine hundred pounds. 
There is a difference of about twenty-five per cent, in 
the quality of the milk turned out by the good and 
the poor dairies, one-half of which the owner of the 
former loses, and the other half of which the owner 
of the latter gains, by getting his milk made up at the 
factory. Some means should be devised for remedying 
this piece of injustice, if the better class of dairies is 
to be retained by the factories. 



CHAPTEE III. 

COMPOSITION OF MILK. 

The composition of milk, though frequently dis- 
cussed, is not generally well understood. It is quite 
variable, not only in the milk from different cows, but 
in that from the same cow at different times, and in dif- 
ferent conditions, but especially at different seasons of 
the year. It is more buttery in winter, and more 
cheesy in summer. A cow milked three times a day 
would give more in quantity but poorer in quality, 
than if milked twice; while one milked twice a day 
will yield more milk than if milked once a day, but one 
milking a day would be the richer. The first milk 
drawn from the udder is more watery than what fol- 
lows ; the last is the richest. The accumulation of 
milk in the cow's bag is influenced by the law of grav- 
itation. The water being the heaviest ingredient, settles 
to the bottom, and is the first milked ; the cream, which 
is the lightest, rises, and is the last milked. That is to 
say, a partial separation takes place in the udder, suffi- 
cient to make the "strippings" some ten or twelve 
times as rich in butter as the first milk drawn. We 
would, therefore, infer that the first third contains the 
most water, the second third the most cheese, and the 
last third the most butter. There is said to be a differ- 
ence in the milk drawn from the compartments of the 
udder of the same cow, or from different teats. 

The variation in the composition of milk, of course, 
is indicated by different chemical analyses, no two of 
which can be found to exactly agree. We give an anal- 
ysis by Haidlen. He found that the specimen con- 



COMPOSITION OF MILK. 19 

tained, in 1,000 parts, 873 parts of water, 80 of butter, 
18.2 of cheese, 43.9 of sugar of milk, 2.31 of phos- 
phate of lime, .42 of magnesia, .47 of iron, 1.04 of 
chloride of potassium, and .66 of sodium and soda. 
Other chemists have found albumen among the constitu- 
ents of milk, and this ingredient is believed, by many, 
to be the one that first commences decaying, in hot 
weather, and produces, "tainted" milk, "floating" 
curds, and "huffy" cheese. Skimmed milk has been 
found, in some instances, to contain as high as 97 parts 
of water in 100, and onl}^ 3 per cent, of solids, or 
cheesy matter. " Swill milk" has been found to con- 
tain as low as 1| per cent, of butter. An analysis of 
the first milk taken from a cow's big after calving, 
showed it to consist of 15.1 per cent, of caseine, or 
cheese, 2.6 of butter, 2 of mncons matter, and 80.3 of 
water. Ordinary pure milk will average about 12| per 
cent, of cream. But it is not unfrequently found to 
yiekl 15 to 20 per cent, and even as high as 25 per 
cent, of cream has been obtained. If milk yields less 
than 10 per cent, of cream, it is below the average, and 
nnprofitable for butter-making. 

We know of no single instrument that will Li once 
indicate the quality of milk. What is called the lac- 
tometer, but is properly a hydrometer, will indicate the 
density of milk, and if its specific gravity in a pure 
state be known, it will show the amount of water 
added, if any. On an average, milk is about 4 per 
cent, heavier than water. That is, a hydrometer with 
a scale graded at 100 for milk at 60 ^ Farenheit, ought 
to sink to 96 in water. The variation in the density of 
milk will be shown by an experiment given by Charles 
L. Flint, in his "Milch Cows and Dairy Farming." 
He says : 



20 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

" For tlie purpose of showing the difference in tlie 
specific gravity of different specimens of pure milk^ 
taken from the cows in the morning, and allowed to 
cool down to about 60®, I used an instrument graduated 
with the pure milk mark at 100, with the following re- 
sults : The first pint drawn from a native cow stood at 
101. The last pint of the same milking, being the 
strippings of the same cow, stood at 86. The mixture 
of the two pints stood at about 93 1. The milk of a 
jDure bred Jersey stood at 95, that of an Ayrshire at 
100, that of a Hereford at 106, that of a Devon at 111, 
while a thin cream stood at 66. All these specimens 
of milk were pure, and milked at the same time in the 
morning, carefully labeled in separate vessels, and set 
upon the same shelf to cool off; and yet the variations 
of specific gravity amounted to 25, or, taking the aver- 
age quality of the native cow's milk at 93|, the varia- 
tions amounted to 17|." 

It will be seen, by these experiments, that the richer 
the milk in butter, the less the specific gravity, thin 
cream being 30^^ below the water mark. The richer the 
milk in caseine, or cheese, the greater the specific 
gravity, the milk of the Devon indicating 15^^ above 
the water mark. Watering milk will of course reduce 
the specific gravity of milk rich in cheese, and by this 
means it can be made to indicate the average density of 
pure milk. In the same way, milk rich in butter may 
have its specific gravity increased until it nearly reaches 
that of water, but no amount of watering can make it 
indicate over 96^, which is the figure given for pure 
water. A little salt, or other ingredient, may be added 
to bring the density up to the pure milk mark. So the 
blueness of milk, produced by either skimming or 
watering, may be removed by the use of burnt sugar. 



COMPOSITION OF MILK. 21 

which will give it a rich color. Or annotto may be 
used for the same purpose. Many expedients have 
been resorted to, from time to time, by the dishonest, 
for the purpose of disguising the impoverishment of 
milk by skimming and watering. 

"But," says some one, " why tell dishonest men how 
they can skim and adulterate their milk?" AYe have 
not done so. We have told honest men some of the 
practices of the dishonest, with the view of enabling 
them to detect the fraud. True, the hydrometer is not 
an accurate or legal test ; but it shows the exact density 
of the milk tried, and this is a very important point. 
When you have decided this, by the use of the cream- 
gauges, you can determine the amount of cream ; and 
if you let the milk, stand until it coagulates, and the 
cheese separates from the whey, you can tell the rela- 
tive proportion of water and cheese. This may be a 
somewhat slow and clumsy process, but it is neverthe- 
less decisive, and often repays the trouble. Foreign 
substances, so far as not held in solution by the water, 
or not entangled in the cheese or cream, will settle at 
the bottom of the glasses. Besides, with these evidences 
to start on, the ways of a suspected person can be 
watched, and he often be caught in the very act of vio- 
lating the law, which Ave quote below : 

§ 1. Whoever shall knowingly sell, supply, or bring- 
to be manufactured to any cheese manufactory in this 
State, any milk diluted with water, or in any way adul- 
terated, or milk from which any cream has been taken, 
or milk commonly known as skimmed milk ; or who- 
ever shall keep back any part of the milk known as 
" strippings ; " or whoever shall knowingly bring or 
supply milk to any cheese manufactory that is tainted 
or partly sour from want of proper care in keeping 
pails, strainers, or any vessel in which said milk is kept, 
c 



22 HINTS ox CIIEESE-MAKING. 

clean and sweet, after being notified of sucli taint or 
carelessness ; or any cheese manufacturer who shall 
knowingly use^ or direct any of his employes to use, 
for his or their individual benefit, any cream from the 
milk brought to said cheese manufacturer, without the 
consent of all the owners thereof, shall, for each and 
every offense, forfeit and pay a sum not less than twen- 
ty-five dollars, nor more than one hundred dollars, with 
costs of suit, to be sued for in any court of competent 
jurisdiction, for the benefit of the person or persons, 
firm or association or corporation, or their assigns, upon 
whom such fraud be committed. 



CHAPTER lY. 

TAINTS AND ODORS. 

Whatever be the grade of cows and the quality of 
milk, mucli depends upon its management. A gDod 
deal of care and attention are requisite for the attain- 
ment of the best possible results with such milk as we 
may have to work up. But before we come to the 
process of milking, let us look a moment at the effect 
•of food in regard to taints and the flavor of milk. 

It is now universally conceded, that the flavor as well 
as the quality of the milk depends very materially upon 
the food of the cow. Coarse swamp-grasses and weeds 
•do not produce as rich or sweet milk as clover, timothy 
^nd red-top, grown on dry upland soil ; while swamp- 
water gives a ranker flavor than the sweet spi'ing and 
brook-water of hilly regions. Leeks are not the onl}^ 
weeds which taint the milk before it is taken from the 
•cow. All rank vegetable growths lend a similar influ- 
ence to injure flavor. Indeed, that which the cow eats 
is what she makes the milk of, and if these offensive 
things are taken into her system, she cannot be ex- 
pected to turn out milk that will not partake of their 
qualities, any more than a man can be expected to make 
sweet cider of sour apples by running them through 
the mill and press. Even the atmosphere which 
the cows breathe affects the flavor of the milk. 
Carrion in the lot where the cows feed has been known 
to impart its odor to the milk of the dairy. Dirty sta- 
bles and barnyards, the odor of which is breathed by 
the cows, makes the milk "taste of the barnyard," as 
the common expression goes. 



24 HINTS ON" CHEESE-MAKIXG. 

It becomes of the greatest importance, therefore, that 
cows should have clean, sweet pastures to feed in, and 
clear spring or brook-water to drink ; also, that they 
should have clean, well-ventilated stables to stand in, 
and be milked in clean yards or stables, as free from 
all taints and bad odors as possible. The cows should 
not be heated by hurried driving with a dog, or by a 
man or boy on horseback, as this fevers the milk, giv- 
ing it an unwholesome quality, leading to rapid decay 
as well as producing bad flavor. 

And, if quantity as well as quality is to be attained, 
pastures must contain plenty of feed, so that the cow 
can soon fill her stomach and then lie down or stand in 
the shade and ruminate at ease, instead of working con- 
stantly from morning to night to gather food enough to 
satisfy her. She must have water handy, instead of 
away back in some retired corner of a large pasture, as 
she naturally wants to drink a few swallows quite often, 
inw^arni weather, but will go until she gets excessively 
dry and feverish before she will travel a long distance 
to get water. When thus very dry, she drinks an in- 
ordinate quantity, which makes her feel heavy and un- 
comfortable — -and whatever annoys a cow lessens the 
flow and reduces tlie quality of the milk. 

A little reflection must make these things apparent 
to every I'easoning mind. Cows must have plenty 
of clean, wholesome food and pure water, and must be 
every way made comfortable and contented, if the 
largest flow and best quality of milk is expected. The 
cow is sure to show, not only her own naturally good 
or bad qualities, but her keep and care, in the milk 
pail. Tliere is no cheating her. She will make a cor- 
responding discount or dividend on every iota of ill or 
good treatment she receives. In this, she is an exact 



TAINTS AND ODORS. 25 

accountant, and slie will insist upon keeping the ac- 
count square. 

Milk requires not only favorable conditions for its 
production, as above indicated, but needs great care 
and cleanliness after it is drawn from the cows. A foul 
yard or stable will impart its odors to the milk. Un- 
cleanliness in milking not only gets tilth into the milk, 
but taints and injures its flavor. Some, for this reason, 
recommend washing the cow's bag before milking. 
But if this washing is done with cold water by the 
milker, it is quite likely to consume time, cool the bag 
and cause the cow to hold up a portion of the mess. 
Experience shows that the quicker the milk can be 
drawn, after the operation is commenced, the better 
the yield. If washing is done, it should be with warm 
or tepid water, and be the work of one person, who 
should go through the whole dairy in advance of the 
milkers. But, in our opinion, where the stable or yard 
is kept clean, a careful brushing of the bag with the 
hands before beginning, and care in holding the pail a 
little toward you from under the teats, will obviate all 
the evils of uncleanliness from milking ; and, certain it 
is, where all the surroundings are dirty, no amount of 
washing the cow's bag will get rid of the bad effects of 
the odors arising from the filth. Clean quarters for 
milking are indispensable to the furnishing of sweet, 
nice-flavored milk. 

Cleanliness in all the pails, cans, strainers, and what- 
ever comes in contact with the milk, is equally neces- 
sary. Thorough washing, not omitting the use of soap, 
scalding and airing, are the only things that will keep 
them sweet and free from taint. All implements and 
utensils should be as free from sharp corners as possible, 
as these are difficult to clean, and taints are apt to be left 
c2 



26 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

in them to come in contact with the new milk and in- 
fect it, as a small quantity of yeast leavens a batch of 
bread. The milk will, therefore, soon begin to fer- 
ment, producing one of the worst conditions which 
the cheese-maker has to contend with, and rendering it 
impossible for him to make firm, clean-flavored cheese 
of the milk. In no case should wooden vessels be used 
for milk. The wood will absorb the milk, and no 
amount of washing and scalding will get it entirely out 
What remains will get frowy and impart its infection 
to the warm milk and cause it to rapidly taint. Tin 
vessels are the best of anything yet devised, and are 
recommended universall}^ by the best dairymen and by 
the American Dairymen's Association. Those with 
pressed or round bottoms, having no inside angles for 
ferments to collect in, are preferable. These can be ob- 
tained for a trifle if any more money than common' tin 
pails cost, and should receive the preference of dairy- 
men when purchasing. 

In short, the greatest care should be taken to have 
all things strictly clean — not only those that come in 
contact with the milk, but those surrounding it. The 
milkers should be as clean, careful and expeditious as 
possible, avoiding all unnecessary or unusual motions, 
and everything calculated to alarm or excite the cows. 
Then, if the cows have had proper food, drink, care 
and treatment, there is little reason to apprehend any- 
thing objectionable in either the quantity or quality of 
the milk. 



CHAPTER V. 

COOLING MILK. 

The management of milk, wlien once obtained, is 
the great practical consideration with the farmer and 
cheese-maker. But the first handling and care devolve 
upon the farmer; the cheese-maker's duties begin with 
the delivery of the milk at the factory. Much, very 
much, depends upon the treatment of the milk after 
milking, and the consequent condition in which it is 
delivered. We will' therefore begin at the stable or 
yard and follow the milk through all its stages, until it 
is run into the weighing-can. 

Previous suggestions as to cleanliness, etc., being- 
adopted, we find the hot milk in the pails ready to be 
strained into the can standing on the platform or in the 
wagon. We say " strained," because this is necessary 
to absolute cleanliness, which affects the flavor, though 
at some factories the patrons are directed not to strain 
the milk, for the reason that poor care is so often taken 
of the strainer, and the keeping of the strainer drawn 
tight over the top of the can prevents cooling and 
hastens taint. For this reason, we would recommend 
the use of strainer-pails, unless the cloth strainer can 
be stretched above the can so as to allow the heat to 
escape and the cool air to come in. These precautions 
should be observed, most certainly, if no means is 
adopted for cooling the milk before starting for the 
factory. 

The subject of cooling and airing milk has long been 
•earnestly discussed, and the importance of cooling, at 
least, we believe is universally conceded. But how is this 



28 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

end to be attained, with the thermometer indicating an 
average temperature of 80^, and perhaps higher? The 
first and simplest suggestion is to set the can in a tub 
of cold water — cold spring or well-water, or iced water 
— and to give the milk frequent agitation with a dipper 
or other convenient article, care being taken to stir it 
from the bottom, as the cold milk naturally settles, and 
of course the hot milk lies on the top. Gentle agitation 
secures the advantage, also, of preventing the cream 
from rising. This makes trouble, and consumes a little 
time, but we believe the result will well repay both. 

The milk-can should, by all means, be kept out of 
the sun's rays, and in a clean airy place. As to the im- 
portance of airing milk, there is a difference of opinion. 
Some assert that the airing is beneficial only so far as 
it assists in cooling, and that if we can succeed in cool- 
ing the milk down to 60°, or thereabouts, immediately 
after milking, we shall attain all the good results ap- 
parent from exposure to the air. All the " animal 
odors," they say, disappear. Be that as it may, it is 
scarcely possible to cool milk without more or less ex- 
posure to the atmosphere, and we have never heard it 
claimed that any bad consequences follow this exposure. 
It is possible, however, that it may more rapidly absorb 
oxygen, and thus sooner sour. The probability is, that 
any process which will secure the proper cooling will 
also afford the necessary exposure for the escape of all 
animal or other odors likely to pass off in the form of 
gas. Therefore, practically, it is of very little import- 
ance whether we consider the question of airing milk, 
in any of the stages of its management. So we will 
first look after the processes which secure known ad- 
vantages. 

Several inventions for the purpose of cooling milk 



COOLIXG MILK. 29 

have made their appearance within the past ^'-ear or two. 
Some for the use of factories, which seem to work quite 
satisfactorily, and others for the use of farmers, none 
of which, we believe, have yet been received with much 
favor. They are mostly too complicated, if not too ex- 
pensive, and too difficult to keep clean, to ever become 
generally adopted. Yet, enough has already been 
developed to convince us that the desideratum, of a 
satisfactory apparatus for cooling milk as fast as, or soon 
after, it is taken from the cow, can be realized. The 
great trouble is, to make farmers use it faithfally, if at 
all. 

The cooling of milk as fast as milked, or very soon 
afterward, is the great question now presented to farmers 
and cheese-makers. It is of quite as much and more 
consequence, than keeping it cool at the factory — for 
milk is often so far advanced in decomposition, if not 
actuall}^ sour or tainted, when received, that it is impos- 
sible to work it up satisfactorily. Some Yankee must 
give us a simple and cheap apparatus that will eflPect the 
desired result. Such an invention will greatly improve 
the quality and increase the consumption and price of 
American cheese. But, in the absence of anything 
better, the can set in a tab of water and the milk fre- 
quently stirred, would be a great improvement on 
.starting for the fictory with hot milk. If the water 
can be made, to constantly run into the tub, fresh and 
<30ol, as the warm water runs out, so much the better. 
Another improvement would be some kind of wagon- 
cover, permitting the air to pass under it, to keep off 
the sun in clear weather and keep out the rain in wet 
weather. The hot rays of the sun, pouring on a can of 
milk for the distance of two or three miles, perhaps — 
■especially if the milk is not cooled before starting — 
-cannot fail to do it serious injury. Milk thus exposed 



80 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

often has a very offensive smell wlien it readies tlie 
factory-door. This shows that it is already tainted and 
in a condition to injure the good milk in the vat into 
which it is run, and cause a porous or " huffy" curd. 

The question as to the effect of suddenly cooling 
milk has been somewhat discussed ; also as to how low 
a temperature is beneficial. Experiments are necessary 
to definitely and satisfactorily settle these questions. 
Our impression is that, if ice is not used, there is no 
danger of cooling milk too suddenly or of getting it too 
cool. But wdiere ice is "used, especially if permitted to 
come in contact with the milk, or even to be separated 
from it only by a thickness of tin, there is danger of 
chilling the particles of milk in immediate contact with 
the cold surface, and causing them to prematurely 
decay. This would, of course, injure the keeping 
qualities of the rest of the batch. So far as the sudden- 
ness of the operation is concerned, we doubt if it would 
have any material effect, one way or the other. But 
where any portion of the milk is chilled, whether the 
whole batch of milk be slowly or suddenly reduced in 
temperature, we should expect it to injure the flavor 
and keeping qualities of the cheese. Some experiments, 
like the one made and related by Mr. Farrington, of 
Canada, at the last Convention of the American Dairy- 
men's Association, would seem to favor the conclusion, 
that suddenly reducing the milk to a low temperature 
is unfavorable to the production of the best quality of 
cheese. More experiments, as we have previously sug- 
gested, are necessary to finally settle these questions. 
But of the importance of cooling milk down to as low 
a temperature as 60^^ to 65^, there can be no doubt ; 
and there need be no fear of milk being cooled rapidly 
enough to injure it where only water is used in the 
process of cooling. 



CHAPTER VI. 

DELIVERING MILK. 

Very liUle attention is usually paid to carrying milk 
to the factory. Too many pour the hot milk into a 
can standing on a wagon or platform, in the broiling 
sun, put on the cover, which fits almost air-tight, 
as soon as through, and then haul it in this condi- 
tion, without any shelter or protection from the sun's 
rays, to the factory. It is sometimes drawn two or 
three miles in this way. Or, as is often the case, it is 
left standing on the platform, covered air-tight, until 
the milk-wagon comes along. Whether taken on the 
wagon at the beginning of the route, or left standing 
on the platform at the last end of the route, it broils 
in the sun an hour or two, with the animal heat all in 
it. If drawn a long distance, it is pretty well churned, 
in addition, and thus a separation of the butter takes 
place which no ingenuity of the cheese-maker can 
remedy ; but when the result is seen in the cream rising 
on the whey- vat, anathemas are heaped on his head. 
Where the milk stands quiet on the platform, the cream 
rises and forms an air-tight covering over the top of the 
milk, which soon taints next to the cream. And whether 
standing still- or riding in a tight can, exposed to the 
sun's rays, without the animal heat having been ex- 
pelled, it is scarcely possible to avoid taint. 

In this way, the manufacturer is furnished with per- 
haps fifty or seventy-five messes of milk, all more or 
less tainted, or at least progressed in decomposition, 
whether any offensive odor is perceptible or not. He 
has these to cool off and keep over night — often with 



32 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

poor facilities for cooling — for proprietors of factories 
are too often ignorant of the importance of providing 
ample means for cooling, or are too eager for large 
profits on small investments, to famish them. So the 
operator dips and stirs away at the decomposing mass 
until ten or eleven o'clock, if not later, and finally 
yields to " tired nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep," 
to rest his weary muscles and care-worn brain — ex- 
hausted, perhaps, by months of incessant toil seven days 
every week. By five the next morning he must be 
on hand, to receive the scattering messes of milk. At 
seven or eight o'clock comes the rash. Then the 
messes begin to drop off", and by half-past nine or ten 
o'clock the last steaming batch, with an unmistakable 
rotten-egg smell, makes its appearance. 

Now, what has the cheese-maker got on his hands, 
some sweltering morning, during the season when it is 
" too hot to make butter," and people kindly draw their 
dairy liquids to the cheese-factory ? Why, on rising 
in the morning and rubbing open his eyes, he breaks 
the cream on his milk. The ander surface has a sick- 
ish, sour smell, which tells him very plainly that it 
cannot be worked up too soon. Bat what is he to do? 
The answer is plain enough : Ran into this fermenting 
mass an equal quantity of the same hot stufP which he 
received the night before ! What will be its condition 
by the time he gets through ? No matter ! It is his 
business to make cheese of it. He is employed for that 
parpose. If the cheese does not prove of the first qual- 
ity, every patron who famishes him stinking milk will 
have strong suspicions that he does not understand his 
business ! And some even insist that the cheese-maker 
shall pay for all the poor cheese! Bat any man who 
is fool enough to make such an agreement, ought to 



DELIVERING MILK. 3o 

suffer, at least one season. The thought of it, however, 
is ahuost " enough to make a minister swear." And, 
by the way, we have been told of one instance where a 
minister left the pulpit and took to the cheese-factory — 
probably for the purpose of practically learning a lesson 
of patience. He vias simple-minded enough to agree 
to pa}^ for all the poor cheese. lie soon found his 
salary was not equal to such a demand. So he set him- 
self about watching the weighing-can, to keep out the 
bad milk. This w^as a Herculean task he had not 
counted on. We are not informed whether he swore 
or not ; but he actually took his station outside, with a 
heavy rod of iron, which he was compelled to use, on 
one or two occasions, to keep the patrons from running 
rotten milk into the weighing-can ! His experience 
w^as an instructive one, and ought to be a warning to 
all ambitious clergymen, as well as to innocent-minded 
cheese-makers ! 

"We do not mean to saj^, that the patrons of all fac- 
tories are as bad as above indicated, nor that they are no 
better on an average. But w^e do mean to say, that too 
many are very careless, and that almost every factory 
has a few patrons Avhose milk is apt to be in a bad con- 
dition when delivered. Besides, while we hear frequent 
complaints about bad milk, we never hear of any one's 
delivering milk in too good a condition. Patrons need 
have no fears of this, and may take it for granted that 
they cannot take too much pains with milk, both in 
point of cleanliness and of keeping it out of the hot sun 
and expelling the animal heat. We should expect to 
iind, if a careful investigation were made, that the most 
unsuccessful factories are those where milk is delivered 
in the worst condition, while the successful ones are 
those where patrons are more careful and the milk 

D 



34 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

received is generally good. More often depends on tlie 
milk than on the clieese-maker. We have heard it re- 
marked, that "almost anybody can make good cheese 
of perfectly sweet milk;" but it is a smart chap in- 
deed who can make good cheese of poor milk. Ev- 
ery cheese-maker will appreciate our remarks, and we 
hope they may not be altogether lost on some patrons. 

It will not, as a general thing, pay to draw milk over 
two or two and a' half miles, for two reasons : First, it 
consumes too much valuable time, and next, it churns 
the milk too much and keeps it too long shut up tight 
and exposed to the hot atmosphere, if not the sun. If 
milk, however, were thoroughly cooled as soon as 
milked, and then carried on easy springs over a smooth 
road, there is little doubt that it might be drawn four 
or five miles without much injury, but the expense 
would be a serious objection to going so long a distance. 

Cans that hold over a barrel will be found incon- 
venient. It is better to use two smaller ones, that can 
be easily handled, than one very large one. They will 
cost. but little more, and will last considerably longer, 
as the strain on them will be less. A large can is made 
of the same material, and •is but little if any stronger 
from additional bracing and staying, and is liable to 
spring aleak. 

As to the use of faucets, it is generally objected to by 
cheese-makers, as too little pains is taken by many to 
keep them clean. Their use is, therefore, discarded as 
far as possible, and we believe cans are generally made 
without them. Yet, some factories still continue re- 
ceiving milk through conductors, where, of course, 
faucets are necessary. They are also a convenience to 
the patron, in many instances, where the can may be 
used for other purposes than holding milk. It is, 



i 



DELIVERING MILK. 35 

therefore, not likely that tlieh' use will ever be entirely 
done away with. But, if neatly and smoothly put in, 
and care is observed in cleaning them, there can be no 
serious objection to them. Small faucets, however, 
should never be tolerated. Nothing smaller than inch- 
and-a-half or two-inch faucets should be put in. These 
are easy to clean, and greatly facilitate emptying. A 
small spiteful stream is a nuisance, and causes a waste 
of time at the factory door where expedition is what 
everybody wants, and is what is needed. If you use a 
faucet, use a large one, and keep it scrupulously clean. 



S 



\ 



CHAPTER VII. 

RECEIVING MILK. 

Most factories now unload milk by the use of cranes 
or some other kind of tipping apparatus. Some of the 
older factories — there are no very old ones — continue 
the use of conductors for transferring the milk to the 
weighing-can. This is the easier but the slower way, 
and necessitates the use of at least double the number 
of weighing-cans that are required by the crane. Be- 
sides, in the use of conductors, there is the constant 
inconvenience of standing out in the rain, in wet 
weather, to hold the conductor, while there is more or 
less liability to accident from the backing up or starting 
of the team. Conductors are mean, even impossible, 
things to clean ; and their use, when there is a rush of 
teams, requires a second man or boy to hold them, 
while the first does the weighing and makes the neces- 
sary entries on the milk-book. If sixty to eighty 
messes are to be received, at least two weighing cans 
will be necessary. But by the use of a crane, one 
weighing-can will do the same work — always provided 
it has a faucet of not less than three inches in diameter, 
so that the can may be emptied while a team is driving 
up and the patron's can is being grappled and elevated 
ready for tipping. A large faucet is of equal advan- 
tage when conductors are used, and, in that case, every 
patron's can should be furnished with at least a two- 
inch faucet, to facilitate the transfer of milk to the 
weighing-can. 

The use of the crane is, of course, not entirely free 
from accident. The strain on the can, when full, is 



RECEIVING MILK. 37 

very great, and it is liable to spring aleak, nnless well 
made. But cans made with reference to this use are 
now furnished with crowning or with patent bottoms, 
and are so well hooped and braced that no serious 
accidents of this kind are likely to occur. A can-ear, 
or a rope long in use, may break. There may be care- 
lessness in hooking on to the can, and the milk may be 
slopped or spilled by letting a full can turn over too 
soon, or by too suddenly letting the milk dash into the 
weighing-can. All these operations require care and 
experience ; but, with proper management, the loss from 
accident, during a season, will be very slight — perhaps 
nothing at all. 

Great care should be taken in weighing milk, to not 
only weigh it right, but to make the patron feel that his 
milk is honestly weighed, and that he is likewise 
honestly credited on the milk-book. Much suspicion 
and hard feeling are liable to spring up, if the man who 
weighs the milk has the appearance of being hasty and 
careless — especially if he should be ill-natured and 
disagreeable in his manners. And it may not be out of 
place here to remark, that good manners and a spirit 
of accommodation are no more out of place in a. cheese- 
factory than anywhere else. Among a large number of 
patrons, it would be strange if there were not disagree- 
able, ill-mannerly men ; but a man who retains his self- 
possession and always acts fairly and talks reasonably, 
will seldom fail to get along tolerably well and retain 
the good will of all. It is the right of the patron to 
know that his milk is correctly weighed and credited, 
and every reasonable facility should be afforded him to 
satisfy himself that he is fairly dealt witli. 

It becomes the duty of one receiving milk to see that 
it is delivered in proper condition. Experience, a good 
d2 



B8 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

eye and a good nose, are all useful assistants. Even 
with the use of all these, messes will sometimes get into 
the vat that never onght to be there. But when a 
|)atron's milk is found not to be right, it is not necessary 
to insult or abuse him, nor to make a general exposure 
of him. Neither law nor duty requires this. He 
should be kindly informed of the fact, told what the 
matter is with his milk and what he had better do to 
remove the evil. If you do not wish to take the mess, 
you can express your regrets at his misfortune, and 
show him that it would cause great damage, some of 
which must necessarily fall on himself If the mess is 
objectionable, but will pass, give him notice that you 
will be obliged to refuse it in future, if not in a better 
condition. When you have done this, more words with 
him are unnecessary, and you have all the advantage, 
for the law and the community are on your side. But, 
with a reasonable man, it will not be necessary to more 
than call his attention to the fact that his milk is bad. 
The cause may be the result of accident or oversight on 
the part of his help, and he will at once set himself to 
work to apply the remedy. The importance of deliver- 
ing milk in good condition is more and more acknowl- 
edged every year, and not a few patrons pride 
themselves on delivering as good milk as any of their 
neighbors. It is w^ell to encourage this feeling by giv- 
ing every man credit who takes pains with his milk. 
Nothing is worse than wholesale denunciation and fault 
finding. It only discourages many, creates bad feeling, 
and makes an up-hill road a rough one as well. A 
cheese-maker needs friends, ifanybody does; and if he 
does not get them among his patrons, he is not likely 
to get them at all. In that case, his seven days a week 
of hard, thankless toil and care are likely to weigh 
heavily on body and mind. 



RECEIVING MILK. 89 

The greatest difficulty is usually experienced in old 
factories, where tlie conveniences are not generally up 
to the more modern mark, and patrons fell into bad 
habits before experience had developed a better knowl- 
edge of the requirements of cheese-making. New 
patrons will submit to be trained, and a sensible cheese- 
maker, who knows what he wants, can generally get 
them to do almost anything at the opening of a new 
factory. In this way, he can discipline them and get 
them in the habit of taking good care of their milk. 
But, in an old factory, where everything started off 
badly, the old adage, that '4t is hard to learn old dogs 
new tricks,'' is apt to be exemplified. They dislike 
innovations, think a new man, who wants to be par- 
ticular, wishes to put them to useless trouble, and they 
are not disposed to gratify him, but rather to growl at 
him, and feel that what was good enough for others is 
good enough for him. Such conduct is all wrong, and 
those who are guilty of it stand in their own light. 



CHAPTER VIIL 

BIG AVERAGES. 

It is tlie custom in many factories to balance the 
scales so tliat a pound or so is taken out of eacli mess, 
in order to help make " a big average" for the season. 
That is, every mess is made to weigh a pound or so less 
than its actual weight, and is so entered on the book. 
In this way, if sixty or seventy messes are received, the 
cheese-maker has that number of pounds of milk more 
to make up than is charged against him. This amount 
twice a day would enable him to turn out some twelve 
or fourteen pounds of cheese more than he ought to if 
he received no more pounds of milk than he gives 
credit for on the milk-book. Thus he makes it appear 
to the patrons, .and publishes it ultimately to the world, 
that he uses less pounds of milk in making a pound of 
cheese than is the actual fact. In common phrase, he 
" makes a big average." 

Let us illustrate a little. Suppose ten hundred and 
ten pounds of milk are delivered in ten messes. The 
entry on the book is one thousand pounds. Out of this 
he makes one hundred and one pounds of cured cheese. 
If the milk had been correctly weighed, the fact would 
appear that he made one pound of marketable cheese 
for every ten pounds of milk. But it really appears 
that it took a fraction less than ten pounds of milk, or 
9.9 pounds, for a pound of cheese. This is the advan- 
tage which he has, in the eyes of the community, over 
the maker who gives honest weight. This is the re- 
ward of his petty dishonesty. 

In justification of this, it is argued that it keeps up 



BIG AVERAGES. 41 

not only the reputation of tlie maker but the reputation 
of the factory, while it wrongs no one, since the patrons 
get all the cheese, or its equivalent in money, and all 
are served alike. We admit that the patrons get all 
the products of the milk, but let us see for a moment 
whether all are treated fairly. Every patron has a 
pound of milk deducted from each mess. Smith brings 
a hundred pound mess, and is therefore docked one 
hundredth part of it. Jones, with only one cow, 
delivers a ten pound mess, and is docked one-tenth of 
it. Thus, at the end of thirty days, each has delivered 
sixty messes. Smith has delivered 6,000 pounds and 
been credited for 5,940. Jones has delivered 600 
pounds, and got credit for 5^0. If ten pounds of milk 
make one pound of cheese, the account ought to stand 
thus : 

Smith, 6000 lbs. milk, 600 lbs. cheese. 

Jones, 600 lbs. milk, _ _ _ 60 lbs. cheese. 

Total, 660 

But, under the system of deducting a pound from 
each mess, in order to show a "big average," the 
account really stands thus : 

Smith, 5,940 lbs. milk, 605 lbs. cheese. 

Jones, 540 lbs. milk, 55 lbs. cheese. 

Total, 660 

At twenty cents a pound for cheese, Jones, because 
he is poor and delivers a small mess, loses just one 
dollar on his month's milk, and Smith, because he is 
better off and has a bigger mess, gets the dollar added 
to his profits. This, in plain figures, is the result of 
deducting weight in order to show a "big average." 
Let no one who reads this do it again. He can no 



42 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

longer plead ignorance, and continue to rob Peter for 
the benefit of Paul, under the supposition that he is 
treating all alike and fairly. 

Unquestionably, something should be allowed for the 
difference between a dry and a wet can. The amount 
is trilling, and can be got at by balancing the scales 
immediately after running out a can of milk. But, 
when the scales are balanced with a wet can, they will 
not balance exactly when the can is dry ; and whoever 
delivers the first mess and wets the can will suffer a 
slight loss, unless care is taken to give good weight. 
The variation will generally not be more than a quarter 
of a pound or so, and can be nearly enough approxi- 
mated by attention to the fractions of a pound denoted 
by the scales. 

Of course, in weighing milk, only the full pounds can 
be counted and credited, the fractions going to makeup 
full weight. As quick weight is demanded in selling 
cheese, milk when received should be weighed in the 
same w^ay. This is fair, and ought to be satisfactory to 
all. But whether quick or slow weight is given, let it 
be honest. In the long run, "honesty is the best 
policy" in weighing milk as well as in other transac- 
tions ; and, in this case, it is absolutely essential to 
justice. A little deduction or variation on a single 
mess, is of small consequence ; but " many mickles 
make a muckle," and when the variation from a correct 
standard is constantly in one direction, after a while it 
amounts to a noticea^ble quantity. 

Occasionally a mess of milk will get run into the vat 
without weighing, by the weigher forgetting to close 
the gate or faucet. When an accident of this kind 
happens, there is no fliirer way than to give credit for 
an average mess as compared with the messes at the 



BIG AVERAGES. 43 

same time of day previously. If the patron is a fair 
man, there will be little trouLle in hitting upon a 
satisfactory figure. If disposed to make the most of a 
mistake, he will be likely to tell you that he thought 
he had a larger mess than usual, and crowd you up to 
as high a figure as possible. But one has to exercise 
his best judgment, and give such credit as he thinks 
will wrong no one. Such mistakes, though almost un- 
avoidable, are unpleasant to one who is sensitive and 
wishes to keep the good side of all ; and not only care 
should be taken, but every precaution should be used, 
to prevent them. The handle or lever for closing the 
gate should be in full sight, and on'e should acquire the 
habit of working systematically, so that he may in- 
stinctivel}^ do what is necessary, even though his atten- 
tion be for the moment diverted from his business. 

G-reat care is required, too, in making the entries in 
the milk book. A mess, by carelessness, may be 
credited to the wrong man ; but when the man to 
whom the credit is wrongfully given presents himself, 
the mistake is likely to be discovered, though you may 
not be able to determine at once to whom the credit 
belongs. In such case, preserve the figures, and when 
your messes are all in, turn over the leaves of the book 
and see who is without credit. Tlie size of the mess is 
generally some indication. One is liable, too, to make 
a mistake of fifty or a hundred pounds in looking at the 
scales. But the habit of comparing every entry with 
the previous ones as you make it, will show the dis- 
crepancy. Where such variation is noticed, of course 
another glance at the weight will determine whether it 
is a mistake or not. It is a very good practice to call 
out the weight of each mess. This affords satisfaction 
to the patron as well as guards against allowing errors 



44: HINTS OX CHEESE-MAKING. 

to pass. Bat, under all circumstances, too mucli atten- 
tion cannot be paid to keeping tlie milk-book correctly. 
It is the only guide to the distribution of the proceeds 
of the factory, and the thought of even a possible mis- 
take ought to give an honest man a strong sense of 
responsibility. No bank book is of more importance. 



CHAPTER IX. 

CONDUCTORS, STRAINERS, ETC. 

When treating of receiving milk, we spake of con- 
ductors as difficult to clean. We consider tlieni an 
abomination in a clieeso factory ; yet almost every 
factory uses them. We believe there are some, how- 
ever, arranged for delivering and receiving milk by 
driving through one end of the factory. The milk is 
brought in small cans, out of which it is poured into 
the weighing-can by hand. The weighing-can is on a 
truck running on a railway along the sides or ends of 
the vats, into which the milk is readily emptied by 
tipping. This does away with both faucets and con- 
ductors, and the idea is worthy the attention "of all 
factorymen. 

When cranes are used in receiving milk, the o utside 
conductors are not needed, but there are two or three 
long conductors, inside the factory, used for running 
the milk from the weighing-can into the vats. Some- 
times we see one of these tin tubes ten or fifteen feet 
long. It is impossible to keep such a thing clean. A 
peep into this, or shorter ones, will show that they are 
not kept clean. Take as much pains as the hands may 
to clean them with a swab on a long stick, they will 
soon get coated over inside by the milk drying on ; 
and, unless extra pains is taken, they will be lined 
with a beautiful coating of green and gold ! They are 
used at night, and, unless the weather is very bad — 
and many pay no attention to the weather — they are 
allowed to stand over night where iised, ready for the 
next morning. The milk and cream get dried on the 
E 



46 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

inside surface, and nobody lias the time, if the disposi- 
tion, to soak it off Further, tin conductors will get 
dents in them. The milk will collect and dry in the 
angles made by these dents. How, in the name of 
common sense, can any one get at them to clean them, 
in a tube ten or even fonr feet long? It is an impos- 
sibility. The milk collects, from day to day, nntil the 
conductor is full of foul ferments, through which all 
the milk of the factory is run and tainted. It is no 
fault of the cheese-maker, because he can't help it, if 
he employs a hand constantly on these abominable 
tubes. He may use a swab with strong ley, or salt and 
water, or both, and run hot water through the tubes 
till the patrons begin to come with their milk, but the 
" damned spots" will not " out." Of course, he w^ill 
somewhat neutralize their active properties as ferments, 
but he does not altogether get rid of them. The only 
way in which he can do it, is to pitch the nasty things 
out of the window. 

If conductors must be used — and their use seems to 
be a foregone conclusion — let them be made in the 
form of open spouts. A foot or so next to the head, is 
all the tube that is needed — and this should be large 
enough to readily admit the hand for the purpose of 
washing. The rest should be an open spout, which 
can be easily and speedily cleaned and scalded. Many 
owners of factories, however, are too penurious to spend 
a few dollars in order to get rid of this nuisance of long 
tin conductors. They would rather lose — or, at least, 
run the risk of losing — five hundred dollars on the sale 
of their cheese, than spend five dollars for the purpose 
of avoiding this fruitful source of taint. If the cheese 
is poor, the blame can be laid on the cheese-maker ; or, 
if the taint is too manifest in the vat of milk or curd, 
it can be chai'gcd upon the carelessness of the patrons. 



CONDUCTORS, STRAINERS, ETC. 47 

There is another source of trouble, v/hicli lies entirely 
with the clieese-maker, or with the hands under him 
whom he trusts. This is the strainer. In cool weather, 
perhaps there will be no difficulty, if the strainer is 
properly washed, scalded and dried each morning after 
the milk is all in. But in hot weather, especially if 
the atmosphere is damp and steamy, if a strainer is left 
over night without rinsing, it is sure to sour. Yet, the 
strainer, like the conductor, is often left at night just 
as used, ready for the reception of the next morning's 
milk. Both are likely to be sour. The milk in the 
yat is " old," especially next the cream, which acts as 
an air-tight covering. Now, run hot milk through the 
sour can, conductor and strainer, into this mess of 
changed milk, and any one, with even but a modicum 
of brains, can see what is likely to be the consequence. 
It will be a batch of sour, leaky cheese. 

Where an agitator is used, the trouble of milk sour- 
ing or tainting beneath an air-tight covering of cream, 
is obviated. Washing cans, cond actors and strainers 
at night, gets rid of the difficulty from these sources — 
that is, as far as the can and strainer are concerned, and 
partially as regards the conductor. A thorough rinsing 
in cold water, immediately after the last mess is run in, 
will be found to answer the purpose. It is usually late, 
and there is no hot water for regular washing and scald- 
ing. But a few moments' work will complete the rins- 
ing in cold water, and this will not be found a very 
hard task for even the jaded hands of a cheese-factory. 
Daring all the hot weather, this should be strictly at- 
tended to. It will pay in a double sense — it will pre- 
vent sourness, and make the can, conductor and strainer 
easier to wash the next day. 

The old-fashioned thermometer is also a source of 



48 HINTS ON CHEESE -MAKING. 

annoyance, if care is not taken in cleaning it. It will 
fill up with ferments between the face and back, in an 
astonishingly short space of time, during hot weather. 
In short, there is no way of keeping it perfectly clean, 
except by slipping the thermometer out of the back or 
case, and carefully washing and scalding it — and in 
doing this, it is exceedingly liable to get broken. We 
are therefore glad to notice the introduction of a new 
thermometer for dairy purposes. It is simply con- 
structed, plain, easy to clean, and no more expensive 
than the common kind now^ in use. Those in need of 
thermometers will find this style much better adapted 
to their uses. The glass is fastened to a plain plate of 
metal, the two edges of which are bent forward to give 
it the requisite stiffness. 

Of course, agitators, dijDpers, rakes, &c., need to be 
carefully cleaned. But we have before spoken of the 
importance of the most scrupulous attention to cleanli- 
ness throughout, on the part of the cheese-maker as well 
as of the pau'or. Cleanliness is an indispensable virtue 
in all departments of dairying. 



CHAPTER X. 

COLOR. 

One would hardly think of associating cheese-making 
with the fine arts ; yet, in what other light can we view 
the subject of color? It adds nothing to the quality of 
the cheese, but rather detracts from it. It is expensive 
and troublesome, and grows more so every year, as 
the demand for annotto runs up the price and leads 
to adulteration. But as long as we make cheese for 
a foreign market, we must adapt our goods to the 
tastes of that market, whether they be physical or 
mental. Our home market would, perhaps, not suffer 
from tho omission of color; but the English market 
demands, to a large extent, highly-colored cheese. 
The Liverpool market will take a small quantity of 
pale cheese, but it does not equal more than one-fifth 
of tho demand of the English market. A few factories, 
which sell exclusively to buyers who supply the Liver- 
pool demand for pale cheese, may safely omit the color ; 
but all which depend on the general market cannot 
safely do so. The London market specially demands a 
high color, and it is no less exacting now than it has 
been heretofore. The cry of buyers generally is, " Keep 
up the color !" The exceptions to this are few, and are 
confined to those who have special orders for pale 
cheese to supply the demand above indicated. 

The English consumer acquired his taste for golden- 
hued cheese before the American make found any con- 
siderable market abroad — indeed, before we had much 
cheese to sell. The first object in coloring seems to 
have been to give a rich butter color. In this way, 
e2 



•50 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

€lieese was made to appoar ricli whether it really was 
so or not. Bat the shade has been considerably in- 
tensified and the English eye is best pleased with the 
color produced by the use of prime annotto, with which 
it lias become familiar. This may be a prejudice, but 
it is a comparatively harmless one ; and since our 
customer is willing to pay for it, there seems to be no 
good reason why it should not be gratified. It is for 
our interest to please the eye as well as the appetite of 
so large a buyer of our prod acts as England. She 
wants about four-fifths of her c'^.ecsc highly but nicely 
colored. 

The complaint among buyers generally is, that color 
is too low. In reply to suggestions about tlie fact, 
makers often say that they never used more coloring, 
but it does not produce the desired effect. They have 
paid a high price for what was supposed to be prime 
annotto, but it proves to be extensively adulterated, 
and therefore weak. This is not the complaint of all, 
but of many. Some have adopted the use of prepared 
annotto, and find it cheaper and more satisf^ictoiy- 
When prime annotto could readily be had, it was cheaper 
to buy the basket and prepare it themselves. But now. 
one poor basket, during a season, imposes a loss greater 
than the difference in price between tlie prepared and 
the unprepared. 

There is another evil about the use of poor annotto. 
It is not only expensive and does not give the desired 
color, but what color it docs give fades out with age, 
and leaves the cheese with a cloudy, mottled appear- 
ance, which is very oftensive to the eye of our best 
customers. Again, where poor annotto is bought in 
the basket and prepared at the factory, it contains a 
laro^e amount of sediment, and this sediment, often con- 



COLOR. 51 

taining deleterious substances, too frequently gets into 
tlic cheese. The liquid is not properly settled and 
racked off. This affords another argument in favor of 
buying prepared annotto, which, if properly put up, is 
free from sediment. 

Those who prefer to buy the basket annotto and pre- 
pare it themselves, should buy only on the warrant of 
the dealer that it is what it is recommended to be. The 
dealer should test a sample of his annotto, before of- 
fering it for sale, and know precisely what he is selling. 
Buj'crs b}^ thus purchasing only of well-known dealers, 
who sell upon honor, will discourage rascality. This 
is the only method we see for keeping the spurious 
article out of market, and securing satisfactory results 
in coloring. 

AYe would suggest to those who prepare their own 
annotto, that they use concentrated ley or potash. By 
doing so, they will secure just as good a shade as they 
can by using ley from wood-ashes, and not only save 
the trouble of bothering with a leach, but secure uni- 
form strength. Two leaches will seldom turn out ley 
of the sanie streno-th. Sometimes it will be stroncr and 

o o 

satisfactory. But if you happen to get a lot of soft 
wood ashes in your leach, the ley will be weak, im- 
perfectly dissolve the annotto, and materially injure the 
liquid. 

In fact, it is diflicult to get your coloring twice alike 
by the use of a common leach. But with concentrated 
ley or potash, the same quantities or proportions of 
materials, mixed in the same way, will produce the 
same result. You can therefore keep your color even, 
and will not be called u})on to experiment and change 
your hand every time you prepare a new batch of 
annotto. The diflferencc in expense will be trifling, 



52 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

and rather in favor of the use of potash, if time and 
trouble are counted of any value. 

The prepared annotto ought to be kept in a stone 
jar, as the ley operates injuriously upon wood, and is 
liable to leave a tub in a leaky condition as the liquid 
is used out and the tub dries. Where annotto is pur- 
chased already prepared, of course it comes in vessels 
suitable to keep it in ; but when prepared at the fac- 
tory, a receptacle has to be provided, and nothing is 
better than stone or earthen-ware. In hot weather, the 
liquid is liable to smell badly from the action of the 
heat on it. A little salt stirred in will be found usefal 
as a preventive against this. 

It is not necessary to disc ass at length the question 
of the effect of coloring on the quality of the cheese. 
The introduction of a strong alkaline prejoaration can- 
not be without some effect ; and when that happens to 
be adulterated with some vile substance, the effect cannot 
be otherwise than injurious. The annotto itself is gen- 
erally conceded to be harmless ; and the ley is, at most, 
but a neutralizer of the lactic acid, but the quantity is 
not sufficient, perhaps, to produce any perceptible 
result. At all events, color is demanded ; annotto, 
prepared with ley or potash, is the accepted material ; 
so we liave only to color with annotto to suit the taste 
of our customer. 

We are assured that nicely colored cheese will bring 
from a cent to a cent and a half a pound more than the 
same quality of cheese will bring when pale. Buyers 
in some instances advise the making of pale cheese be- 
cause they have a special order for it ; but they usually 
expect to get it a little under the highest market quota- 
tions, and factorymen who allow themselves to drop 
the color on the advice of an interested buyer, because 



/ 



COLOR. 53 

it is easy and costs notliing directly to do so, run the 
risk of being caught and of losing a great deal more 
than they can save by omitting the coloring. We 
never heard of a lot of cheese being condemned be- 
cause it was too nicely colored ; but we frequently hear 
of complaints and losses because cheese is too pale. 
The chances are at least four to one in favor of high- 
colored cheese ; and even the fifth chance is not pos- 
itively against color, though the other four are strongly 
against lach of color. He who wishes to have the 
widest range of markets, and to command the best mar- 
kets, must pay strict attention to color — not only must 
he color, but color well and evenly. 

We have an objection to color, for reasons satisfac- 
tory to ourselves ; and buyers can have no interest in 
inducing makers to color their cheese, beyond the fact 
that it makes it more marketable — and in this, patrons 
and factorymen have a much greater interest than deal- 
ers can have. The market demands a rich, even color, 
and will not be satisfied without it. We say, therefore, 
as a matter of dollars and cents — not of taste, choice or 
convenience — keep up the color. 

We will give two recipes for preparing annotto : 1. 
To five pounds of prime annotto put five gallons of 
strong ley, made from wood ashes ; gradually heat up 
and dissolve the annotto, care being taken to not scorch 
it on the bottom of the kettle. Of course thorough 
stirring is essential. When the annotto is all dissolved, 
add five pounds of sal soda and five gallons of soft 
water. Then gently boil the whole for twenty or thirty 
minutes. This makes about ten gallons of prepared 
coloring. If boiled away to less, add sufficient ley and 
soft water, in equal quantities, to make that amount. 
Some omit the sal soda; but it is generally believed 



61 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

that it not only adds strength to the preparation, but 
improves the color by giving it more of a rich, buttery 
hue, instead of a red. The whole, when sufficiently 
cooled to handle safely, should be set in a tub, with a 
faucet two or three inches from the bottom, to settle. 
When settled, it can be drawn oflP, and is ready for use. 

2. Mix in the proportion of five quarts of water to 
half a pound of concentrated ley, and one pound of 
prime aunotto. First dissolve the ley in the water, by 
heating and stirring, and then add the annotto, and 
dissolve it. Boil gently for half an hour. Care, as 
with the other preparation, should be taken not to burn 
it. Settle and rack off. Then your liquid is ready for 
use. 

Tlie second recipe is the one most used, and is easi- 
est to prepare, as it avoids the labor, perplexity and 
risk of making the \ej, which may not always be of 
the desired strength, as the ashes may not be the same. 
But if ashes are used, hot water is best to leech through 
them. A quart of salt to ten gallons of preparation 
will improve its keeping qualities. 



CnAPTER XL 

RENNET. 

An indispensable requisite in making clieese is good 
rennet. Nothing else will answer the purpose. Differ- 
ent snbsitutes have from time to time been tried, but 
all have met with indifferent success, or absolutely 
failed. Acids will produce coagulation, but they spoil 
the quality of the cheese. It was once supposed that 
the gastric juice of the calve's stomach was acid, and 
produced coagulation by souring. But it has been dem- 
onstrated that good curd can be produced from sweet 
new milk, by the use of rennet, without the develop- 
ment of acid in either the curd or the whey. How 
or why the principle obtained by soaking the calve's 
stomach produces coagulation has not yet been discov- 
ered. What the principle Z5, is not even known. It 
appears to be contained in the gastric juice secreted by 
the inner membranes of the stomach, and a small quan- 
tity of rennet, stirred into a vat of milk, seems to co- 
agulate it in the same manner that milk taken into the 
calve's stomach is coagulated. We all know the fact 
that by the use of rennet we can make cheese. Beyond 
this, we have little knowledge ; so far as we are aware, 
scientific men are just as much in the dark as the cheese - 
maker. 

As the stomacli of the calf is bifold, we liave seen 
the mistake frequently made of saving the wrong one. 
But we presume patrons are generally well informed on 
this point now, after so many years' experience. Where 
the stomach is not entirely empty, the presence of curd 
is a sure guide. Always save the stomach that con- 



56 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

tains tlie curJ, and no mistake will bo made. If tlie 
stomacli is empty, save the one that lias a smooth in- 
side surface. The one that has a rough, honey-comb- 
like inside surface is worthless for cheese-making, and 
should, of course, be rejected. 

There are three or four ways of preserving the ren- 
net or stomach, for future use. Only two, we believe, 
are generally practiced in America. In all cases, the 
rennet is to be turned wrong side out, all its contents 
being thrown away, and the inner surface carefully 
cleaned by picking off all hairs and bits of grass, hay 
or other substance which the calf may have taken into 
its stomach. But the rennet should never be washed, 
and great care should be taken not to remove any of 
the inner membrane of the rennet, as in this membrane 
resides all its strength. AYashing would rinse out the 
gastric juice, and weaken the rennet; and much wash- 
ing would render it nearly or quite worthless. 

When properly cleaned, the rennet should be thor- 
oughly rubbed with salt, outside and in, turned the 
right side out, stretched on a crotched stick or on a hoop, 
and hung np in a cool, dry place, to cure. In private 
dairies, the farmer's wife, after salting the rennet, some- 
times spreads it on an earthen plate and sets it away to 
dry, frequently turning it on the plate. Rennets dried 
in this Avay are nice, but it is too much work to tend 
to them for a general adoption of this method of drying. 
Drying on a stick or a hoop is the common way, and an- 
swers the purpose very well. The only trouble is to 
find a place both dry and cool. It is generally con- 
ceded, we believe, that heat injures the strength of the 
rennet. Hence the importance of curing it in a cool 
place. Freezing is thought by many to add to or de- 
velop the strength of the rennet. Be this as it may,, 



RENNET. 57 

old rennets, that liave liung up in the diy-hoiise or 
some other convenient place through the winter, will 
go much further in cheese -making than new rennets. 

Another method of preserving rennets is by packing 
them into salt. This is quite common, and is practiced 
by some of our best factories. It is less troublesome 
than drying them, and is a sure preventive against 
moths, which are apt to get into dried rennets. By 
salting them down, there is less trouble to find a cool 
place in which to keep them during the summer. But 
care should be taken to use only the purest salt in pack- 
ing rennets. Salt not fit to salt curd with is not fit to 
pack rennets in, for when the rennets are used, the salt 
will be in the liquid and find its way into the mass of 
curd. Besides, pure salt is much the better preserva- 
tive, and will keep either meat or rennets sweeter than 
impure salt. 

Some think rennets preserved in this way are not as 
strong as those that are dried. We do not quite see 
the philosopliy of this, since by packing in salt, none 
of the virtues of the rennet can escape by evaporation, 
and must be retained either in the rennet or in the salt. 
It may be said that the salt injures the strength of the 
rennet. If so, why does it not prove equally injurious 
when the rennet is dried? In both methods of pre- 
serving, salt is freely used — generally all that the ren- 
net will absorb. A batch of dried rennets may go far- 
ther than the same number packed in salt, and vice 
versa ; but this does not prove that the same rennets 
would not have equal virtues preserved by either 
inethod. 

The German method of preserving rennets is by 
blowing them up like a bladder, and drying them. 
This is the way in which the Bavarian rennets, which 
F 



58 HINTS OX CHEESE-MAKING. 

reach tliis country, are preserved. We believe no salt 
is nsecl. The method is simple, and if it answers the 
purpose equally well, we see not why it may not be 
adopted in this country. We understand that the Ba- 
varian rennets give very good satisfaction. But, as we 
have never used them, nor seen them used, we cannot 
speak from positive knowledge. 

Yeal rennets are generally supposed to be better than 
deacon rennets. Certain it is that the stomach of a calf 
that never sucked the cow is not worth much in cheese- 
making. It is both small and weak. It seems to be 
necessary that the process of digestion should go on for 
a while, at least, that all the functions of the animal 
may become active and a full secretion of gastric juice 
take place. Some are of the opinion that the rennet is 
best when the calf is from three to five days old, as at 
that ago it is not likely to have taken anything but 
milk into its stomach, which is best prepared for digest- 
ing that kind of food, the first process of which is 
coagulation. Veal calves arc apt to get hold of other 
food, and the stomach is therefore less exclusively adapt- 
ed to a milk diet. Hence, it is argued, if the veal rennet is 
better than the deacon, the stomach of the cow or ox 
ought to be better than that of the veal calf What- 
ever may be the conclusion, we have, and shall proba- 
bly continue to have, both deacon and veal rennets 
both kinds of which have l)cen found to work satisfac- 
torily. 

Much seems to depend on the condition of the calf 
when killed. If it goes too long without food, the 
stomach gets inflamed and is not only deprived of its 
strength, but is partially diseased, and, therefore, unfit 
for cheese-making. This is the condition of most of the 
rennets taken from calves killed in our larger cities, 



RENNET. 59 

the calves going without food sometimes two or three 
days. On the other hand, when the calf has a full 
stomach, the juices seem to be absorbed in the food, and 
the rennet is, therefore, weak. The best time for kill- 
ing the calf appears to be just after the stomach has 
emptied itself, when the appetite of the calf begins to 
be sharp and the secretions of gastric juice are copious. 
This will generally be found from twelve to eighteen 
hours after eating. If fed at night, it may be killed 
any time the next forenoon. 



CHAPTER XII. 

PREPARING RENNET. 

The process of preparing rennet for use is very sim- 
ple, and so generally "anderstood tliat we need not more 
than give a few hints on the subject. In putting ren- 
nets to soak, care should be taken not to allow any tainted 
ones to get into the batch. When they are packed 
in salt, it is not difficult to make a selection. If the 
poor rennet does not smell, it will be pretty likely to 
be discolored and unhealthful looking, instead of hav- 
ing a Avhitish, wholesome appearance. All rennets thus 
discolored should be thrown away as worse than use- 
less — as positively injurious. If the rennets are dried, 
it may not be so easy to detect the poor ones before 
putting them to soak. After soaking, their quality will 
be quite apparent; but much of their injurious effect 
may be avoided by promptly rejecting them without 
rubbing. It is generally, and we believe correctly, un- 
derstood that diseased or tainted rennets produce both 
hufty and bad-keeping cheese, by the introduction of 
decayed animal substances. It certainly cannot im- 
prove the quality of the cheese to mix with it the 
broth of carrion. 

Clear whey is the common and best liquid for soak- 
ins; rennets. Water was once and is now sometimes 
used, but it needs to be very soft and pure, and is im- 
proved by boiling. We have never tried water, but it 
is asserted by those who have us:d it for soaking ren- 
nets that a batch prepared with it will not keep sweet 
as long as one prepared with whey, but that boiling tlie 
water keeps it sweet longer than it will keep if not 



PREPARING RENNET. 61 

boiled. We think tlie purer tlie wliey the better, and 
therefore prefer that which first separates from the curd 
after setting. Some are not particular, and some pre- 
fer the salt whey that runs from the presses. There 
is a saving of salt in this, but we think this liquid can- 
not be as good to introduce into milk as that containing 
less cheesy and buttery particles. Boiling the whey 
and skimming it, afterward allowing it to cool and set- 
tle, that the sediment may also be excluded, is said to 
be a great improvement, and we can easily believe this 
to be true. It is not only free from impurities, but it 
forms a sharp acid that acts readily upon the rennets 
and extracts more completely the pepsin, gastric juice, 
or whatever it may be that coagulates the milk. It is 
said that quite a saving in rennets can be effected by 
using scalded whey for soaking them. 

Twenty or twenty-five prime rennets put into a half 
barrel of whey will make a good preparation. It can 
be made stronger, of course, by the addition of more 
rennets, or pouring in a less amount of whey ; but it is 
questionable if the entire strength can be extracted by 
using a less quantity of whey in proportion to the num- 
ber of rennets. They need to be rubbed at least three 
times, each time in a new batch of whey. The second 
time the preparation will be found about as strono- as 
the first. The third rubbing and rinsing may be in 
fresh whey to be used for soaking a new batch of ren- 
nets. We like to have two tubs or iars for soakino- 
the rennets, one for the first and the other for the sec- 
ond rubbing, alternately. After rubbing the second 
time, put the rennets in a sack made of strainer cloth 
to keep them separate, and soak them with the batch 
intended for the next second rubbing. In this wav the 
strength of the preparation from the batch may bo 
f2 



62 HINTS ON CIIEESE-MAKING. 

kept equal to that from the first. Eub the third time, 
and rinse in fresh whey, as before indicated, when the 
strength will be found pretty completely extracted. 
If dried rennets are used, it will be necessary to add 
salt to the whey when the batch is put to soak. Every 
time new whey is added, more salt will be required. 
Where the rennets are packed in salt there will usually 
be salt enouQjh for the first soakinof adherinsf to them ; 
if not, it may be increased in quantity by a few hand- 
fuls of that loose in the barrel in which they have been 
packed. As the rennets will float on the whey, they 
should be thoroughly stirred up as often as night and 
morning, and a little salt sprinkled over those left on 
the top. 

We prefer stone jars, both f)r soaking rennets and 
to keep the prepared rennet in, because they are so 
much more easily kept sweet than wooden tubs can 
be. Of all things, we detest a stinking rennet tub or 
jar. Frequent scalding, when emptied, is necessary. 
When the preparation is kept in a tub, it will be ad- 
vantageous to rub a little salt, each morning, on the 
sides of the tub left exposed to the air, after setting the 
milk, by the lowering of the liquid. By all means, do 
anything and everything that may be necessary to keep 
the rennet tubs or jars from stinking so badly that the 
stench will nearly suffocate one on uncovering them. 
A sweet rennet tub is the evidence of important quali- 
ties in a cheese-maker — care and cleanliness. 

Of course, there are various ways of managing, as 
regards quantity, convenience's sake, and so on, but 
we do not believe the principles involved in the process 
of selecting and preparing rennets for use, as we have 
given it, can be violated or neglected without loss in 
some manner. The importance of properly-prepared 



rHEPARING RENNfrr. 63 

rennet, and of keeping it sweet and. clean, cannot be too 
highly estimated. " Bad luck" in cheese-making might 
not infrequently be traced to the rennet tub ; while 
" good luck" may bo as often traced to the same source. 
Look out for your rennets and take care of your rennet- 
tubs or jars. They may make or mar your fortune. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

SETTING. 

The temperature of 82^ to 86^ is generally considered 
the best for setting — the former in hot and the latter 
in cold weather. This gives an average of 84° for mild 
weather. Perhaps this point is as good as any for set- 
tin or. But it is worth bearing^ in mind that the milk 

O CD 

will coagulate sooner, after adding the rennet, at a high 
than at a low temperature. The same milk will set 
quicker at 86^ than at 82°, and at the points in the vat 
where the heat is greatest, or the milk cools least by 
radiation, the curd will become tough and difficult to 
cut, while other parts of the mass will remain tender 
and cnt easily. This not only demonstrates the greater 
activity of the rennet at a higher heat, but the import- 
ance of an even heat throughout, and of keeping it 
from falling. Some throw a cloth over the vat, after 
the milk begins to thicken and agitation is no longer 
necessary to keep the cream from rising. This is a good 
practice, wo believe, as it retards the reduction of tem- 
perature by radiation, and keeps the heat more equal- 
ized. This will secure a more uniform action of the 
rennet, and render the cutting less difficult and less 
liable to cause waste. 

When the rennet is once added and thoroughly in- 
corporated with the milk, we believe it would, be better 
if the mass could have perfect rest until the curd is 
ready to cut. We think the curd is more likely to be 
spongy in consequence of tlie' continued or frequent 
agitation kept up to prevent the cream from rising. 
All know that a stir too much after the milk bcf'-ins to 



SETTING. Go 

look thick, and roll heavily, prevents the formation of 
a solid curd. It refuses to unite in one uniform mass, 
and remains in small, separate particles. But, when 
the milk is all right, observation will show that such a 
curd makes fine cheese, though there is great waste 
from the fine particles floating ofi" with the whey. And 
why will it make fine cheese? Because it is in small 
particles, gets thoroughly and evenly cooked, and the 
butter is equally distributed through it. 

But the difficulty of preventing the cream from rising 
and forming a cream-curd, that will float on the whey, 
if it does not waste, needs to be overcome before we 
can allow the milk perfect rest after incorporating the 
rennet. We are not aware of any method for accom- 
plishing this. Agitation of the surface, at least, seems 
necessary to retain the cream ; but if the surface only 
is agitated, manifestly the cream will escape from the 
bottom of the mass and impoverish it while enriching 
the top. A thorough stirring of the whole mass, there- 
fore, will keep the cream more equally distributed, and 
it will also secure a greater uniformity of temperature. 
The cheese must be of evener texture than if made of 
curd of different deo-rees of richness mixed toojether. 

It is a question for debate as to whether the cream 
which rises on milk is thoroughly incorporated with it 
by stirring. That butter is wasted in making cheese, is 
a fact that cannot be denied. Some think that nearly 
all the cream that rises on the vat during the night is 
floated off in the whej^ We cannot indorse this con- 
clusion, although it is asserted that where agitators are 
used, and the cream is thus prevented from rising, 
there is a great saving of the butter. But one fact is 
worth a thousand fictions in the practical affairs of life, 
whatever it be in romance. Cream will mix with the 



6Q HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKINO. 

milk by stirring, and go to enrich tlie cheese, as is 
proved in the manufacture of the Enghsh Stilton cheese. 
In the manufacture of this, the cream of the night's 
milk is taken off and added to the morning's milk, 
which is worked up separately. The cheese is greatly 
enriched thereby. How much the waste of butter is 
increased, we are unable to say. We know from our 
own experience, that skimming the night's milk, in- 
stead of stirring in the cream, makes a marked differ- 
ence in the yield and quality of the make. 

The first thing in setting, when a vat of milk is 
raised to the proper temperature, is to add the coloring. 
This is a strong alkaline preparation, and must have a 
tendency to retard the development of the lactic acid, 
if it does not combine with it in forminsj a neutral salt. 
If no effect is perce|)tible, beyond the color it imparts, 
it is simply because the quantity is so small. Probably 
the effect of the alkali in the annotto is more than 
counteracted by the acid in the rennet. 

Nothing as good as clear whey has been found for 
soaking rennets. Some think the acid an advantage 
in the working of the milk, and others go so far as to 
add, in cold weather, a quantity of sharp whey to the 
milk along with that in the prepared rennet. This, of 
course, hastens the development of acid throughout the 
mass. But we cannot say that we approve of doing 
.anything to change the milk, and thus sour the curd 
before cooking. We prefer to have the milk as sweet 
as possible when set, and to keep the curd sweet until 
it is cooked. Then we would develop the acid in the 
whey. For this reason, if sour whey is to be added, 
we should add it after the curd is cooked, for the pur- 
pose of hastening the development of the lactic acid in 
the whey. This seems to us to be the most rational 



SETTING. 67 

course, from what our experience lias taught us. If 
fair experiment should demonstrate that we are in error 
as to when and where the development of the acid 
should take place, we shall be willing to yield the 
point. 

The amount of 23repared rennet that it is necessary 
to add to the milk, depends upon its strength, which 
can be determined only by experiment. Sufficient 
should be used to coagulate the milk in ten or fifteen 
minutes, and render it fit to cut in thirty or forty min- 
utes. If the milk is " old," the same quantity of 
rennet will cause it to work sooner, as it should. Some 
would add less rennet. We would not. The milk 
needs to work faster, and the acid, although it coag- 
ulates the milk, will not supply the place of the rennet. 
The rennet ought to be strong enough to require not 
more than a quart to a thousand pounds of milk. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

CUTTING CURDS. 

Cheese-making was once carried on without cutting 
the curd ; and even since the introduction of the factory 
system, there have been those who denounced the idea 
of using a cutting instrument. Breaking up the curd 
with the hands was considered the be-tter method as 
incurring less waste, both of butter and cheese. Such 
ideas, though entertained but a few years ago, are ob- 
solete. Cutting curds is now universal, certainly in 
America. The only questions are as to the time, man- 
ner and extent of cuttinor. 

When should the curd be cut? Practically, there is 
little difference of opinion on this question. Some may 
cut a little sooner or later than others, and even the 
same person may not always be precise as to the time 
of cutting;. But all will as-ree that a curd should not 
be cut before it is lirm enough to break square and 
smooth over the finger without whitening the whey ; 
and they wdll also agree that it should be cut before it 
o'ets touo-h enou2:h to drive alono; ahead of the knife. 

O O CD O 

We would cut it as soon as it can be done without 
waste, while the curd is tender ; and we would do all 
the cutting at once. There is no sense in running the 
knife through the curd one way, and then letting the 
curd stand andtoughen before cross-cutting and com- 
pleting the operation. If it is fit to partly cut, it is fit 
to wholly cut ; and the sooner the cutting is done with, 
the better. Time for the separation of the whey can 
be given after the cutting is done, and before the heat 
is further raised. 



CUTTING CURDS. 69 

The cutting slioiild be done as carefully as possible 
and as evenly as possible. The fewer the motions, the 
better. If it could be done instantaneously and uni- 
formly, without agitation, it would be an advantage. 
At the right time, we would like to have the entire vat 
of curd instantaneously separated into pieces of uniform 
size. This is the end to be aimed at. We are far from 
reaching it with present appliances. We can only ap- 
proximate it as nearly as possible. A knife, therefore, 
with blades near together is preferable to one with 
blades farther apart. 

As to the extent of the cutting, there is more differ- 
ence of opinion, though the difference has much di- 
minished since the mania for coarse curds ran its course. 
A few yet cling to this exploded notion ; but the great 
majority choose a medium degree of fineness. It has 
been found that the large pieces do not sufficiently 
cook, especially if the milk is old enough to work 
quick. The consequence is an uneven texture, and a 
deteriorated flavor. Sufficient whey remains in the 
centers of the large lumps to ferment and give the 
cheese the smell of the whey-vat, if it docs not sour 
and cause the cheese to become leaky and dry. Pos- 
sibly, if the weather be favorable for curing, the whey 
may collect in pungent drops throughout the cheese, 
showing themselves when cut somewhat as they do in 
the Limburger. Such cheese, we think, is likely to 
ultimately approximate the Limburger in both odor 
and flavor. It will please some tastes, but will not 
answer for the best markets. 

Medium curds are now the rule. As cheese-makers 
have approximated fine curds, they have improved the 
quality of their cheese. We believe still finer cutting 
will prove a further advantage. We will give our 



70 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

reasons for thinking so, and will add tliat our experience, 
as far as it goes, corroborates the idea. It secures a 
more uniform action of the heat and separation of the 
Avhc}^, and therefore an evener texture and better flavor, 
with correspondingly improved keeping qualities. 

What is the object and advantage of cutting at all? 
Why not let the curd remain in one unbroken mass? 
We cut the curd for the purpose of facilitating the sep- 
aration of the fluids from the solids by the combined 
action of the rennet and heat. Is it not desirable that 
this action should be uniform on every particle of curd? 
We think this question will be generally answered in 
tlie adirmativc. If so, then it must be conceded that 
the fnier the curd is cut the more nearly the desired re- 
sult will be attained. If it could be separated particle 
from particle, without waste, would not the action of 
the heat and rennet be more perfect still? When in 
lumps, the externals of them mnst necessarily be cooked 
more than the centers, and the evil of over-cooking — 
if there is such an evil with a blood heat temperature — 
is illy counteracted by the mixture of curd cooked to 
diflerent degrees — some overdone and some underdone. 
It should all be cooked alike, to whatever degree the 
cooking may be carried. This will secure uniformity 
of texture and quality, and also clean flavor, if the 
cooking is complete. 

But, of course, in cutting a curd fme there is danger 
of waste — waste of curd, but not necessarily waste of 
butter, unless the curd is sour. Then it is impossible to 
avoid waste of butter by any process that we are aware 
of — and with a sour curd there is all the more necessity 
for cutting line and cooking rapidly and thoroughly. 
AVitli proper care, the evil of sour milk can be avoided. 
With good sweet milk and proper management, there 



CUTTING CUEDS. 71 

is very little danger of waste of any kind, cut as fine 
as we can with the common knife. 

AYe would cut sq that the pieces when cooked should 
not be larger than kernels of corn ; and though many 
object to it, we should not, if the pieces were as small 
as buckwheat — and as regular in size. We would not 
use a knife with the blades more than a quarter of an 
inch apart. Though we have never used a knife for 
cutting horizontally, the idea commends itself to our 
judgment. We would carefully cut first with the hori- 
zontal knife, leaving the thin slabs of curd lying one 
upon the other. Then, without waiting for the whey 
to rise or the curd to sink, we would use the perpendic- 
ular blades lengthwise of the vat, reducing the slabs 
to long square strips, and follow this with the cross-cut- 
ting until the pieces were at least as small as beechnuts. 
After this, the curd may be allowed to stand a few 
minutes, for the whey to separate, before starting the 
heat — provided the milk is sweet enough to permit of 
delay. But if the milk should give any indication of 
being old, we would begin at once to gradually raise 
the heat ; if quite old and changed, we would crowd 
the heat as fast as practicable. 

To sum up in brief, we would cut a curd and com- 
plete the cutting as soon as it can be done without 
waste ; we would cut it as expeditiously as possible and 
with as few motions; we would cut it as fine as care 
against waste would warrant ; we would raise the heat 
as gradually and evenly as circumstances would permit ; 
we would cook as thoroughly and as evenly as possible ; 
we would keep up the heat until the curd is done ; we 
would then let the acid develop in the whey until it is 
plainly changed ; we would dip as warm as convenient, 
drain and salt, cool to at least 80 ^ , and then put to 



72 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

press. With good milk, good rennet and a good place 
to cure the cheese in, we should expect in this way to 
turn out a tip -top article. 



CHAPTER XY. 

HEAT. 

One of the most important elements in cheese-mak- 
ing is heat; but we do not believe the importance of 
its proper regulation is sufficiently -understood by our 
cheese-makers. We are aware that cheese can be made 
without the use of artificial heat. It is not such an ar- 
ticle, however, as would meet with a ready sale, or be 
likely to increase the consumptive demand for cheese. 
A good-keeping, mild and nutty-flavored cheese can- 
not readily be produced, if at all, with a temperature 
lower than 06 ^ ; nor can a rich, buttery article be 
made with a temperature over 102 ^ . We consider 
6 ^ the widest allowable range of heat, and think 98 ^ 
to 100 '^ , or full blood-heat, the best temperature. 

Evenness and steadiness of temperature are two ini-^ 
portant points. That apparatus is best which heats the 
milk throughout the vat the most evenly — leaves it 
the freest from hot places and cold places, at the sides, 
ends, or on the bottom. A perfect apparatus would 
raise the temperature of every particle of milk at the 
same time and at the same rate; and retain this per- 
fectly even heat at the desired point until the cooking 
is completed. 

The difficulty, with most or all heating apparatus, is 
to raise the heat of the entire mass to the required 
temperature, without submitting some particles to a 
greater degree of heat than is necessary, or heating 
them in advance of the lest, to be stirred in and par- 
tially cooled again. 

We believe that an even cook or scald is of the ut- 
g2 



74: HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

most importance, and tliat everything that can be should 
be done to secure that end. If thoroughly accom- 
plished, with sweet milk to begin with, we have no 
fears as to the richness, fine flavor and good keeping 
qualities of the cheese. There is no other thing, in 
our opinion, which will go so far toward securing these 
three desirable qualities. 

Another thing, as before indicated, we consider of 
great importance in securing a thorough cooking and 
proper separation of the whey from the curd. "We re- 
fer to steadiness of temperature. It seems to us a 
great mistake, when the temperature is once up, to not 
keep it there, without rising or lowering. It seems a 
misapplication of terms to speak of cooking or scalding 
at a temperature of 98 or 100 degrees ; yet, we all 
know that blood-heat is all that is required for cheese- 
making. This heat seems necessary. Perhaps it is 
because nature designed the gastric juice from the ren- 
net to operate at the temperature. It is a well estab- 
lished fact that digestion will not go on when the teni- 
perature of the stomach is below that of blood-heat. 
We presume a much higher temperature is equally 
iletrimental. This may account for the fact that blood- 
heat is the best for cheese-making, as at that tempera- 
ture the rennet is most active. Be this as it may, we 
are satisfied that the process is retarded- and the curd 
deteriorated by allowing the temperature to fall during 
the time it is in the scald. Instead of cooking, and 
condensing, as it should, in order to expel the whey, it 
is only soaking and souring. The moment the acid is 
sufiiciently developed, though the curd be yet soft and 
raw, the whey is drawn, the curd is further cooled and 
soaked, and then dipped, drained, salted and put to 
press. A leaky cheese is the result. If the weather 



HEAT. < O 

is cool and bad for curing, a sour clieese follows. But 
whatever the weather may be, we doubt if a leaky 
cheese ever yet turned out all right in flavor and qual- 
ity. It can never have that nutty, new-milk flavor 
which belongs to cheese properly cooked. We presume 
there are those who will differ with us in opinion, but 
we should demand the positive evidence of at least 
four senses before believing^ Ave are wrono^. 

We say, therefore, raise your temperature gradually 
and evenly, to full blood-heat, and there retain it until 
your curd is ready to dip. Then wc believe it would 
be an advantage to dip and drain, without cooling more 
than what cannot be avoided, and salt warm. But of 
salting, we will speak more at length some other time. 
,We are now discussing the question of heat. Let iis 
give a little every-day illustration. Suppose the house- 
wife were to put her potatoes for dinner in a kettle of 
water, run the heat up to 212^, and then allow it to 
cool by radiation until the potatoes are done. What 
kind of a dish would they make ? Or, after she had 
cooked her potatoes, suppose she should let them stand 
and soak until they are cool enough to handle without 
danger of burning or scalding any one. Who would 
want to eat the watery things? The truth is, 212° is 
the proper temperature for boiling potatoes, and the 
sooner and hotter you can get them out of the water, 
the better. So, in our opinion, blood-heat, or 98"^ to 
-100'^, is the proper temperature for cooking cheese 
curd, and that after the curd is done, the sooner and 
warmer it is dipped, the better for the curd — the 
sweeter, richer-flavored and better grained (not pasty, 
but more of the consistency of hard, well-made butter, 
which shows the butter globules whole) will be the 
cheese, and its keeping qualities will be correspondingly 



76 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

improved. It may be a little more work to cool tlie 
curd in the air, and harder keeping it from packing ; 
but if dipped warm, tlie whey will the sooner drain off, 
and the salt can be the sooner thrown on, when it will 
penetrate quicker, season the mass more evenly, and 
form a coating to the particles of curd, which will keep 
them from packing together. 

But whether the curd is cooled before dipping or not, 
we maintain that it is a great advantage to keep the 
temperature up to blood-heat during the entire process 
after the heat is once raised. AYith self-heating appara- 
tus, this can be done by keeping a very little fire going 
— -just enough to supply the loss of heat from radiation. 
Where the heating is done by running warm water 
around the milk-vat, a current of the proper tempera- 
ture can be kept up. If steam is used, perhaps a smaP 
jet can be kept pouring into the space around the vat. 
But in all these cases, the danger is that too high a 
temperature will have to be kept up at the point of 
applying the heat, in order to prevent the temperature 
of the whole mass from falling. This is a decided ob- 
jection, and necessitates a great deal of stirring, which 
is only a palliative of and not a remedy for the evil. 

Of course we write with reference to the management 
of heat with milk that is sweet and iii proper condition 
for cheese-making. Where it is ''old,'' or tainted, to 
begin with, it is necessary to hurry the heat, and every 
operation connected with the process of making it up. 
A higher temperature and less time will be found to 
produce a very similar effect to a lower temperature 
and more time. But, in all cases, an even, steady heat 
should be aimed at and maintained to the end. 

We never could quite understand the johilosophy of 
cooking less in the spring and fall than in the summer. 



HEAT. 77 

The idea that it makes the cheese more buttery to clip 
the curd raw, seems to us very absurd. If there is 
any time when a curd needs to be thoroughly cooked, 
it is when the weather is cool and imfavorable for cur- 
ing. If the whey is not properly expelled by the 
action of heat, it has got to either dry out or leak out, 
or both. If there is too much left in the curd to dry 
out, Ions: before it can leak out, vour cheese will be 
sour, with a puckered face, and sundry ugly cracks. 
Even when the cheese does not absolutely drip, if the 
curd is dipped while underdone, it will sour, the face 
will have a corrugated appearance, and the cheese will 
" try " crumbly and sour. The color will also be paler 
than in those that are properly cooked, the general look 
will be clammy, and no rind will form that will be satis- 
factory. Even when well-cooked and well-made, if a 
cheese does not have sufficient warmth, it will sour on 
the ranges and sooil ; and it stands to reason that cheese 
made from a curd insufficiently cooked must work a 
great deal worse under unfiivorable conditions for cur- 
ing. Our experience is, that a curd needs more cook- 
ing in the spring and fall than will answer in hot, dry 
weather. If we must have a curd dipped soft at any 
season of the year, we say let it be at that season when 
the weather is best for drying and curing. A cheese 
that would become worthless on the rano^es in cold, wet 
weather, may turn out pretty flxir in " dog days." But 
we do not believe in undercooking at any time. Food, 
of all kinds, needs as much cooking one season of the 
year as another. It is quite likely, however, tliat a de- 
gree or two lower heat will answer in cool weather, for 
the reason that milk keeps better then, and the curd 
remains longer in the scald before taking on acid. In 
this case, we have a lower heat for a longer time, which 



78 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

will prodace the same result as a higher heat for a 
shorter time. But in both cases the curd ought to be 
cooked the same. Whatever degree of heat is decided 
upon, let it be kept up, steady and uniform throughout 
the mass, and at all seasons of the year let the curd be 
cooked done. This is specially important when the 
conditions for curing are unfavorable. You must do, 
then, in the vat jDart of the work which can be done on 
the ranQ:es when the weather is favorable. 



CHAPTEE XVI. 

ACID. 

Another important agent in clieese-making is acid. 
This you are pretty sure to have, at some stage of the 
process, and the chief question seems to be as to ivlien 
you will have it. It is said that milk fresh from the 
cow manifests the presence of lactic acid. The quantity 
is very slight, however, and under favorable circum- 
stances the development is slow. Where milk is pro- 
perly cooled immediately after being taken from the 
cow, and the factoryman has good facilities for keeping 
it cool, it will be found, when the time comes to begin 
the process of working up, what is called "sweet." It 
will not taste as fresh and clean as when first cooled 
after milking ; but no acid will be perceptible to either 
taste or smell — not even enough to make it what is 
termed ''old." 

Some think age makes the milk all the better for 
cheese-making, and we believe it is generally under- 
stood that milk fresh from the cow does not work quite 
■ satisfactorily. However, we place no great stress on 
this opinion. Old milk will work quicker than new 
milk ; the acid will develop sooner to the point desired 
by the cheese-maker, and this saving of time doubtless 
has something to do with the decision in favor of age 
in milk for the purpose of cheese-making. 

Our impression is, that milk cannot be too sweet 
when the rennet is added, and that if sufficient time is 
taken to develop the acid in the whey before dipping, the 
fresh milk will be found to turn out the finest-flavored 
and best-keeping cheese. The acid is not wanted in 



so HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

the curd^ but in tlie luhey. If the milk is sonr, to begin 
witli, or quite advanced toward sourness, the latic acid 
must pervade every particle of the whole mass. Now, 
it strikes us that the correct idea is to expel the whey 
from the curd, as far as possible, before the acid makes 
its appearance, and let the acid develop in the whey 
afterward, so as to furnish a sort of pickle. The acid 
will develop sharply at some stage in the process; and, 
as we have before said, the question to be decided seems 
to be as to what point it is best to have it develop at. 

We say, with the light we at present have before us, 
we think the acid should never be allowed to develop 
much before the curd is cooked and the whey is pro- 
perly expelled ; then let the whey take on acid to 
quite a perceptible degree before dipping the curd. We 
doubt if it makes much difference whether the acidula- 
tion takes place while the curd is floating in the whey, 
or after the whey is drawn off and while the curd stands 
and drains. There is rather more convenience in hand- 
ling to leave the whey on and stir the curd sufficiently 
to keep it from packing; but the ''cheddar" cheese, 
which is generally considered the best of any, is made 
by stacking the curd, after cooking, and allowing the 
whey that clings to it to take on acid. But where the 
milk is all right, to begin with, and the curd is properly 
managed and cooked, we doubt if it makes any material 
difference which process is adopted for allowing the 
acid to develop. With such a curd, there is little 
danger of its being injured b}^ the acid, as any one can 
demonstrate by allowing curd to stand un pressed over 
night, as is often done with small remnants, when the 
pieces will be found covered with an almost v^incgar- 
sour acid. Grind this curd and put it to press, and 
there will be no siorns of sour cheese. 



ACID. ^ 81 

Tlie development of tlie acid is absolutely necessary 
to secure good keeping qualities and a mild, clean 
flavoj-. Dip a curd before the wliey has become per- 
ceptibly acid, or is on the verge of "changing," and 
we think that a rank, bitter flavor will be sure to fol- 
low. The absence of sufficient lactic acid leaves the 
albumen in a condition likely to decompose, while the 
butyric acid develops itself, as in rancid butter, and the 
two combine to make a very unpalatable flavor to one 
nice about the taste of his cheese. Some prefer strong 
cheese. To such, the nearer the flavor approaches that 
of smoked herring and tobacco, the greater the gustatory 
gratification. 

The principal difficulty in working up sour milk is 
to get sufficient action of the rennet and heat on the 
curd to properly condense it and expel the whey. It 
is a mistake, therefore, to dip a curd soft because it is 
sour. Run your heat up to 104^ or even 106^, as soon 
as possible, and keep it there until your curd is cooked. 
It is sour, and nothing but cooking will save it, if any- 
thing will. The whey must and will come out. If 
3'Ou do not expel it from the particles of curd in the 
vat, you will not be able to press it out sufficiently to 
keep it from working and leaking out while the cheese 
stands on the ranges. 

If anything will j)revent sour milk from making leaky 
cheese, it is thorough cooking. This process you should 
hurry up as much as possible — always having an eye 
to keeping the heat even, and preventing waste of butter. 
The acid, acting on the butter globules, makes their 
coatings tender. Therefore, handle the curd as care- 
fully as possible, cool well before putting to press, and 
press gently, increasing the pressure gradually. But, 
if you have succeeded in getting your curd properly 
n 



82 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

cooked, you have done one of tlie best things possible 
to retain the butter. If, when you put the curd to press, 
you find you have more than the usual bulk of curd, 
filling the hoops fuller and refusing to yield readily to 
the pressure of the screw — as is generally the case with 
sour milk, as managed in most factories — you may 
know that you have not done your work thoroughly, 
and therefore look out for leaky, sour, poor cheese. 
On the other hand, if you have condensed the curd to 
the usual bulk, so that it works well under the screw, 
you may hope for a fair cheese, that may pass muster 
when the buyer comes along. 

We often hear the remark, when anything is said about 
developing the acid, "No sour cheese for me; I prefer 
.to dip my curd sweet." People who talk in this way 
either make bitter, bad-fiavored cheese, or else get on 
more acid than they are aware of, in consequence of 
having dull taste and smell. They judge by the ap- 
'pearance and feel of the curd when it is in condition to 
dip, and may succeed in hitting the right point. In 
hot weather, it is hardly possible not to develop the 
acid sufficiently. But if they really dip the curd sweet, 
we do not believe it possible that their cheese can be 
up to the standard demanded by the best markets, 
though they may succeed in getting a fair price for it. 
Not all buyers are really good judges, and fewer still 
know what the matter is with a cheese that is imper- 
fectly made. They know, perhaps, that there is some- 
thing wrong about it ; but what, they are unable to 
say. Further, we believe the average price of American 
cheese lower than it should be, in consequence of so 
little really prime clieese, and of tlie large amount of 
second-rate ; and tliat, as yet, our buyers are not suf- 
ficiently discriminating in their purchases and prices, 



ACID. 88 

though tliey are yearly growing more so. Both buyers 
and cheese-makers need more experience and a better 
understanding of what is requisite in the manufacture 
of a "prime article. 



CHAPTER XYII. 

DIPPING CUKDS. 

There is notliing so difficult in .cheese -making as to 
determine the exact point when a curd ought to be 
taken out of the vat and salted. A slight variation 
either way from this point makes an uneven lot of 
cheese, and much variation spoils the batch, so that it 
will not pass for "prime." Every cheese-maker has- 
felt the want of some test whereby the exact point, 
when a curd is sufficiently " done " to dip, can be de" 
termined with certaint}^ Neither the sense of smell, 
the sense of taste, nor the sense of touch is infallible. 
The evidence of this fact can be seen in any factory 
durmg the season of cheese-making. A simple test of 
acidity, which is claimed to be conclusive, is the appli- 
cation of a hot iron to a lump of curd. The iron wants 
to be searing hot — not red hot, but hot enough to toast 
cheese. Take up a small handful of curd, squeeze the 
whey ont of it, and touch the hot iron to it, holding it 
there for a moment, or until it adheres and begins to 
melt or toast the cheese. Then pull the iron gently 
away from the curd. If the curd is raw and sweet, it 
will break short off from the iron and appear crumbly. 
If slightly acid, it will slightly pull out in threads, but 
not very long ones. As the acid develops, the stringi- 
ness increases. At a certain point, the curd will cling 
to 'the iron and pull out in numerous fine threads an 
inch or two long. Beyond this point, the threads grow 
longer but fewer, until there will be only one, which 
will draw out a foot or so, and then break, recoiling 
somewhat like India-rubber. Indeed, the curd grows 



DIPPING CUED3. 85 

tougher and more stringy from the time it begins to 
take on acid perceptibly, until it finally ends in string- 
ing indefinitely, like wax, having passed the point of 
breaking and flying back. The successive stages of 
development are gradual, but very marked, and cannot 
fail to be recognized after a few experiments. 

Thus having obtained a means of telling the degree 
of acid developed, it only remains to be decided at what 
point to dip the curd. It is claimed that the j)roper 
one is where the threads are the finest and most nu- 
merous. Beyond this point, the threads diminish in 
number but increase in length, which is an indication 
of too much acid. It is asserted that' the hot iron test is 
uniform and reliable, besides being easy of application. 
Cheese-makers can make their own experiments, and 
we advise them to try the hot iron to their own satisfac- 
tion. If it should prove as conclusive as good judges 
think it will, it will be of immense value to our dairj^- 
men. 

This test reminds us of the test used by maple-sugar 
makers to determine when the batch has reached the 
point where it will "grain" and "cake" well. They 
make a small bow of a twig, dip it into the sugar, 
which adheres to and fills it, and then they blow through 
the bow. If no bubble forms and floats off like a soap- 
bubble, the batch is not done. But if they can blow a 
string of bubbles, or one long bubble, it is time to re- 
move the heat. The stringing of the cheese-curd, on 
the application of the hot iron, seems to afford a very 
similar test for the cheese-maker. 

It is not claimed that the use of the hot iron will 
necessarily insure the making of good cheese. It only 
determines the degree of acidity, which is one very im- 
portant point. Other things are requisite to the manu- 
ii2 



86 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

facture of a prime article, and the same care, attention, 
and labor, in otlier matters, will remain just as essen- 
tial. By using the hot iron, however, it is claimed 
that the cheese-maker can tell, every time, just how 
sour his curd is. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

SALTING CURDS. 

We believe there is not mucli controversy on the 
question of salting curd. One says, salt it hot, and 
another says, cool it first. But the variation in tempera- 
ture is but a few degrees, and can hardly be supposed 
to have much effect. On the whole, we prefer salting 
as warm as practicable, as the curd then takes the salt 
better and the seasoning is likely to be evener. But 
the sooner the salt is thrown on, the greater the waste 
w^ill be from running off in the whe}^ If the curd 
were thoroughly drained, or pressed out, as it is by the 
English in the manufacture of cheddar cheese, before 
the salt is added, considerable less would be needed. 
Some salt the curd in the vat, while it is yet covered 
with whey, and think this the better way. We opine, 
however, it matters but little when the salt is added, if 
it be distributed evenly throughout the mass of curd and 
is used in the proper quantity. The common method is 
to salt in the curd-sink, while the curd is draining — 
generally as soon after it is dipped as it can be stirred 
into a loose condition suitable for evenly mixing the 
salt. 

We have heard the opinion expressed that it mat- 
ters not whether the curd is well separated after 
saltinn^, or left in coarse chunks with the salt adherino- 
to their surfaces when put to press, as salt is ver^^ pene- 
trating and the pressing drives the salt whey all through 
the cheese. But the common practice is not based on 
such a conclusion, and we think it well that it is not. 
Even salting we consider as essential in cheese-making 
as in b utter- m akin o'. 



88 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

The amount of salt used at tlie different factories 
varies from four ounces to five ounces for a hundred 
pounds of milk, or from two pounds and a half to three, 
pounds and an eighth for a thousand pounds of milk, 
or a hundred pounds of curd. The higher rate of salt- 
ing is thought to somewhat retard the curing, but it 
will help the keeping qualities of the cheese. 

For convenience sake, and to save time and the lia- 
bility to mistakes when in a hurry, we would recom- 
mend the making of a scale or table, based on the rate 
of salting adopted, ranging from twenty or twenty-five 
pounds up to a hundred, and then for the hundreds up 
to the capacity of the vat. It takes but a little while, 
during some leisure hour, to make such a tabular scale. 
When made and stuck up in some convenient place — 
say, over the salt barrel, or over the balances — it will 
enable any one not familiar with or quick in figures 
to see at a glance how much salt is needed for the curd 
of a given amount of milk. It is a convenience, too, 
that will last as long as the factory, if taken care of 

For the benefit of whom it may concern, we give the 
following tables : 



TABLE 

For Salting at the Kate of 2 lbs. 8 ozs. 
TO 1,000 LBS. OF Milk. 



MILK. 


SALT. ■ 


MILK. 


SALT. 


lbs. 


lbs. 


ozs. 


lbs. 


lbs. 


ozs. 


25 





1 


1,000 


2 


8 


50 





2 


2,000 


5 





• 75 





8 


8,000 


7 


8 


100 





4 


4,000 


10 





200 





8 


5,000 


12 


8 


800 





12 


6,000 


15 





400 


1 





7,000 


17 


8 


500 


1 


4 


8,000 


20 





600 


1 


8 


9,000 


22 


8 


700 


1 


12 








800 


2 











900 


2 


4 









TABLE 

For Salting- at the Eate of 8 lbs. 2 ozs. 
TO 1,000 LBS. OF Milk. 



MILK. 


SALT. 


MILK. 


SALT. 


• lbs. 


lbs. 


ozs. 


lbs. 


lbs. 


ozs. 


20 





1 


1,000 


3 


2 


40 





2 


2,000 


6 


4 


60 





3 


8,000 


9 


6 


80 





4 


4,000 


12 


8 


100 





5 


5,000 


15 


10 


200 





10 


6,000 


18 


12 


300 





15 


7,000 


21 


14 


400 


1 


4 


8,000 


25 





500 


1 


9 


9,000 


28 


2 


600 


1 


14 








700 


2 


3 








800 


2 


8 








900 


2 


18 









90 HINTS ON" CHEESE-MAKING. 

We presume tlie method of using these tables will 
be plain enough to most cheese-makers. But we will 
give a single illustration. Supposing the batch of milk 
to be 4,640 pounds, if Ave wish to salt at the rate of 3 
lbs. 2 ozs. to the 1,000 pounds of milk, we look at the 
column indicating the quantity of salt for a given num- 
ber of thousands, and find that 4,000 pounds of milk 
require 12 lbs. 8 ozs. of salt. Eeferring to the other 
column, we find 400 pounds of milk require 1 lb. 4 ozs. 
salt, and 40 pounds, 2 ozs. Add these together, and 
we have 13 Ib.^. 14 ozs. as the quantity of salt required 
for 4,640 lbs. of milk. If desired, a table can be made 
out, with little trouble, that will show the quantity of 
salt required for any given number of hundreds of 
pounds of milk likely to be contained in a single vat. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

TAINTED MILK. 

The most abominable of all things in a cheese-factory 
is tainted milk. It means floating curds, " huffy " cheese, 
bad flavor and poor prices. Yet, as milk is now man- 
aged, most factories will, in hot weather, get occasionallj 
caught with a mess of tainted milk. There are hard 
work, anxiety and unsatisfactory results in it for the 
cheese-maker, and dissatisfaction and small profits for 
the patron. Such things never ought to be ; but, when 
such a catastrophe happens, like other disagreeable 
things, it has to be borne and the best made of it that 
circumstances will permit. 

We know of no way to make good cheese out of 
tainted milk, and have had comparatively little experi- 
ence with it — though quite as much as we desire. But 
from our own knowleds^e and what we can learn from 
the experience of others, if we had a tainted mess of 
milk to work up, we should heat it up as soon as possi- 
ble, cut the curd fine, cook it thoroughly and develop 
" the acid as much as we thought the curd would bear 
and stick toQ-ether so as to bandaofe- well. If we had an- 
other batch, in which the whey was all right, v/e wouhl 
draw off the whey from the tainted batch as early as 
possible and add whey from the sweet batch to the 
tainted curd, to cook it in. If not, as soon as cooked, 
we would draw off the whey and allow the acid to de- 
velop in the curd. We presume sour whey added to 
the batch would be an advantage in developing the 
acid, and acid is what seems to be needed to check 
the decomposition and further tainting of the curd. 



92 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

All extra quantily of salt would doubtless be an ad- 
vantage in stopping furtlier taint. The curd sliould be 
cooled to tlie temperature of tne atmosphere, and well 
aired before being put to press, and the pressing should 
be thorough. 

Old cheese-makers liavc told us that they thought 
they found an advantage in washing and cooling a 
tainted curd with ice v/atcr — tliat is, by chilling it. It 
seems to us that, though this might check taint for the 
time being, it would hasten it when the cheese warmed 
up in curing, as butter or meat will spoil rapidly after 
having come in contact with ice, if exj^osed to the at- 
mospliere. 

Prime cheese never can be made of bad milk. But, 
if milk is not too badly tainted, a mess managed on the 
principles we have indicated will make a fair cheese — 
one that will suit many palates. A curd made of sour 
milk may be improved by washing out some of the 
acid by the use of warm water. With such a curd, 
extra cooking is an important point; but generally 
there is less cooking, owing to the hurry to get the 
curd out of the sour whey. It is in almost the opposite 
condition, so far as acid is concerned, of curd made 
from tainted milk. The latter has too little acid ; the 
former too much. We therefore want to develop the 
acid in a tainted curd, and to retard or diminish it in a 
sour one. 



CHAPTER XX. 

CURING. 

There is no part of tlie process of making up milk 
and getting tlie product ready for market wliich requires 
more care and judgment, as well as some hard work, 
than curing. Few rooms are properly prepared for the 
purpose. They are left too open and barn-like, witli 
no means of controlling the temperature. Factorymen 
generally seem to think that if the cheese is only made 
and put on the ranges, there is little or no need of mak- 
ing any further provision. A\^e have seen cheese, which 
we believe had deteriorated from one to two cents a 
pound in value, because the curing process had not 
gone on properl}^ The curing rooms were full of 
cracks which let in the wind, cold or hot, dry or damp, 
as it might be, and the cheese stood on the ranges in 
the cold, damp atmosphere, turning to swill — to hog 
feed, instead of human food. The faces vfere cracked ; 
the flavor was bad ; " too much acid," the bu}' ers said ; 
the makers were perplexed, and quite sure they 
had not changed their hands from what they were 
when they made a good reputation ; the patrons were 
dissatisfied, and the committeemen grumbled. There 
might have been other failings ; but we are quite sure 
that no one has a right to expect prime cheese where 
there are not the proper facilities for curing. If the 
weather happens to be right, a barn may answer the 
purpose. But no one has a right to presume on always 
having favorable weather ; and it is the part of wis- 
dom to make preparations for all sorts of contingencies. 

A curing-room should be made with a wind-proof 

wall. This would guard against sudden changes of 
I 



94 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

weather, bj keeping out botli heat and cold. Sufficient 
air can be introduced through the windows, which 
should be made to open easily, and be provided with 
blinds. There should also be provision for supplying 
artificial heat, equally distributed throughout the build- 
inir, and not from a red-hot stove set in the middle, or 
in one end or corner, where it will toast the cheeses 
near it, and leave those farther off to chill in the cold 
weather of spring and fall. If steam is used, the heat- 
ing apparatus may be made to do the double work of 
cooking the curd, and warming the drying-room. This 
may be done by means of hot-air tubes, or by the use 
of steam-pipes running round the room. Of course it 
would cost a little at the beginning ; but a curing room 
once properly fitted up would soon pay the extra ex- 
pense in the saving of time, labor, care, vexation and 
money. A thousand and one annoyances would be 
guarded against, and the proprietor would have the sat- 
isfaction of k'nowing that he had got a good thing, 
which would insure the most that could be expected 
from the product of the cheese-vat, and build up a 
first-class reputation and a permanent business. 

A curing-room should not only be kept at an equable 
temperature of 70 '^ to 80 ^ , but be well ventilated. 
The gases constantly emitted by the curing process 
should have a chance to freely escape and leave the at- 
mosphere as pure and sweet as possible. There is no 
more sense in supposing that a cheese can cure properly 
and have a clean, wholesome flavor, if kept in a close, 
unventilated room, than that a human being can retain 
his health in impure air. The curing-room must be 
kept clean and sweet, dry and airy — not by allowing 
the wind to whistle through it as it listeth, but by a 
judicious system of heating and ventilating, which 
will allow the hot and chill blasts to blow harmlessly by. 



CHAPTER XXL 

GREASING CHEESE. 

When a clieese is first removed from tlie iioops, care 
should be tal^en that its face be not allowed to dry and 
crack before it is greased with hot whey-butter. No- 
thing has been found so good as whey-butter for the 
purpose of greasing cheese, and it should be applied 
hot, and as soon after the cheese is set on the range as 
possible. If it dries at all, we think it injurious to the 
formation of a smooth, glassy flice ; and if it dries 
much, the face is sure to check and present an unsatis- 
factory appearance, besides furnishing convenient places 
for the cheese-fly to deposit its eggs. 

A very convenient thing for applying the hot butter 
is a paint-brush. It is much handier and better every 
way than a swab. But care must be taken, or the 
bristles of the brush will get scorched. This can be 
avoided by removing the brush from the dish when 
through using it, and not putting it in the grease again 
until you are ready to grease the faces of your cheeses. 

A pressed iron dish with a handle riveted on, is 
handy for melting the grease. There is no danger of 
melting out the bottom, or melting off the handle, and 
you are less liable to burn yourself or spill your grease 
than you are if you melt the whey butter in an old 
basin, which very soon gets burnt and leaky. 

Little conveniences, like the iron dish and brush we 
have mentioned, help a great deal, in the course of a 
season, about cheese-making ; and a cheese -maker had 
better furnish them at his own expense, if his employers 
are too stingy to do it, than not to have them. There 



96 HINTS ON CHEESE MAKING 

are many such little things tliat greatly assist in doing 
work easily and in keeping neat and tidy. One can 
do without tliera, on the principle that a fiirmer can 
hoe his corn without a cultivator, but it does not pay. 

If a cheese cannot be greased as soon as taken out, 
spread a cloth or put a turner over it, or both. This 
will keep the moisture from escaping and the air from 
immediate contact with the face of the cheese. 

As whey-butter is the best and nearly the only ma- 
terial used for greasing the faces of cheeses, it will not 
be amiss and may be of use to inexperienced cheese- 
makers, to say a few words on the mode of trying out 
the whey-butter. Prepare a skimmer with a long 
handle, which may be cheaply made by punching the 
bottom of an old tin-pan full of holes and fastening a 
wooden handle to it with bits of wire. A shrub five 
or six feet Ions: and of suitable size, with a short crook 
at the larger end, is convenient. It can bo split at the 
crooked end, slipped on the edge of the p.m and wired 
there without much trouble. 

Ilangr a laroje kettle — a cauldron is best— in a con" 
venient place, and fill it about two-thirds fall of the 
grease and scum which you skim ofP from the vat. It 
is yeasty stuff, and requires a good deal of room, at 
first, to swell in when the heat is started. Keep up a 
moderate fire, so as to boil it gently without scorching, 
and continue the boiling until the cheesy portion is 
sufficiently cooked to sink to the bottom. Then allow 
the batch to rest and cool down. Dip off the butter, 
while still warm and oily, and carefully strain it into a 
clean tub. When cooled sufficiently to begin to thicken 
somewhat, a little salt sprinkled on the surface and 
thoroughly stirred in, as the farmers' v\^ives sometimes 
salt their lard, will help prevent it from getting rancid 



GREASING CHEESE. 97 

and stinking. Set it in a cool place, and keep it covered 
tightly, Near the close of tlie fall's operations, a nice 
tab of whej butter §honld bo thus prepared and set by 
for use the next spring — for, in the cold spring weather, 
when cheese-making first commences, very little cream 
will rise on the whey- vat, and it will take some time 
before a batch can be procured. 

In applying the whey-butter to the face of the cheese, 
no more should be used than the surface of the cheese 
will absorb and leave it moist and shiny. If enough is 
put on so that it will cool in streaks and stick to what- 
ever it touches, it should bo wiped off, or it will daub 
the turner or bench, and not only make unnecessarv 
work in cleaning, but prevent a hard, smooth rind from 
forming. Many give themselves a good deal of annoy- 
ance by putting on too much grease. 

The next morning after the cheese has been set on 
the/ange, and had its upper face greased with hot whey- 
butter, it should be turned over, when a similar appli- 
cation of hot butter should be made to tlie other face. 
If the cheese is avcU made and of good milk, and pro- 
perly greased, as we have indicated, more greasing will 
seldom be needed. A little care will determine when 
more is needed, if at all. If the face begins to look 
dry and feel harsh, in spite of thorough rubbing with 
the hands, call the grease-brush into requisition again. 
In hot, dry weather — especially if the air is allowed to 
strike the face of the cheese — a timely application of 
more whey-butter may keep the face from cracking and 
save considerable trouble. 

The cheeses should be regularly turned, for the first 

fortnight, every day, and have their faces thoroughly 

rubbed and polished with the naked hand. Nothino- 

else will do so much to help form a satisfactory rind 
i2 



HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

A clotli carried along sliould be used to wipe off any 
surplus grease on the bench or turner, so as to prevent 
its daubinoj the next cheese and rnakino: additional 
work. This same cloth, thus made greasy, will answer 
the additional use of wiping off any moud that may be 
found collecting on the bandage. 

In this way, a lot of cheese, with comparatively little 
additional work and trouble, but a trifle more attention, 
can be kept looking clean and wholesome ; and if this 
neatness does not actually help improve the quality of 
the cheese — we think it does — it will so much improve 
the appearance, that you will not only be rewarded by 
the satisfaction afforded, but can safely count on a frac- 
tion more from the buyer — enough to more than pay 
for all the labor bestowed in curing-. 



CHAPTER XXIL 

SKIPPERS. 

One of the most annoying things in the drjing-rooni 
is the cheese-flj. It is very small but very effective in 
its way ; and as it has the power to so rapidly increase 
its numbers, it sometimes gives a good deal of trouble. 
To a beginner, its ways seem almost past finding out, 
yet its path often becomes disgustingly visible. 

We know of no sovereign remedy for these pests of 
the drying-room. The best preventive is perfect clean- 
liness in all the surroundings. No pools of whey or 
slops of any kind in, under or around the building, 
should be allowed to furnish the first broods. But few 
flictories are so arranged as to leave no putrid whe}^- 
spouts or other receptacles for the eggs of the fly. When 
hot weather comes on, the flies, therefore, swarm all 
around the building ; and most curing-rooms are so 
•open as to afford them easy access. Once in the room, 
the trouble and warfare begin, and cease not until the 
dog-star no longer rages. 

The cheese-fly is not very particular where it deposits 
its eggs — whether in the cracks in the benches or 
turners, in wrinkles in the bandage, in the checks in 
the rind of the cheese, or on the smooth face. If the 
weather is warm enough and there is the least bit of 
moisture, the eggs will hatch anywhere around the 
cheese. As soon as hatched, instinct leads the skipper 
to burrow in the cheese at once. It is a mistaken idea 
we think, that the fly inserts the eggs. It drops tbem 
in clusters, wherever it is convenient. It may be on a 
turner, which is standing idle. It is taken up thought- 



100 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

lessly, clapped over a cheese, wliicli is tariied on it, 
nicely covering the eggs, which hatch between it and 
the rind, rtnd the brood is soon found thriving nicely 
in the cheese. Perhaps the eggs are laid on the smooth 
flxce of the cheese, in plain sight, if one looks carefally 
enough for them. The next time the cheese is turned, 
the eggs are in the same situation as those laid on the 
turner. They may be laid on the bench, and the cheese 
set on them. A careful hand, who is used to hunting 
eggs as well as skippers, will look closely for them 
everywhere, and be sure that the face of no cheese that 
has tliem on is turned down, and that no turner is used 
containing them. In all these cases, care and neatness 
have tlieir advantages, and pay. 

If a cheese is leaky, look out for it. We have seen 
the eggs of the cheese-fly deposited on the best cheeses ; 
but sour, stinking, leaky cheeses attract them most. 
Here they are in their natural element. The eggs 
dropped on the moist cheese anywhere, even on the 
bandage, will do remarkably well. They no sooner 
hatch, than the tiny worm works its way through the 
bandage or rind into the cheese, and there he feasts, 
fattens and grows. 

It is almost traditional that a skippery cheese is in- 
variably a good one. We admit that good cheese may 
be skippery — it is so, sometimes ; but the leaky, greasy, 
rank smelling and strong-tasting cheese, is the skippers 
deli'^ht. In such a cheese, he luxuriates in all his dis- 
gusting glory. 

"When skippers get into a cheese, we know of no 
better way than to dig or cat them out as soon as pos- 
sible. Their presence is at once indicated by a moist 
spot, when the bottom face of the cheese is first turned 
up. Greasing a piece of paper over the hole in the 



SKIPPEES. 101 

cheese, wliicli is the entrance of the skipper, will bring 
him to the surface after air, but it does not kill him nor 
free the cheese from skippers. Wo say, cut them out. 
Cut freely, and make sure work. If the spot is near 
the edge, a wedge-shaped piece may be cut out, and a 
piece of another cheese — there is usually one cut for 
patrons of a factory — can be fitted in, a second bandage 
drawn over, and the cheese slipped into a hoop, when 
a little pressing will smooth down all roughness and 
heal all scars. 

Some put cayenne pepper in whey-butter used for 
greasing cheeses. But^ though it may help keep flies 
off, it will not prevent trouble. They will work their 
way wherever there is a chance for them. Dryness, 
cleanliness and watchful care, are the only sure pre- 
ventives of skippers, in hot weather. To one who has 
had experience, it is not so very difiicult to guard 
against serious loss from skippery cheese. But begin- 
ners need to be put on their guard — and for their benefit 
we have penned this article on skippers. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

CHEDDAR PROCESS. 

Daring the summer of 1869, we had the pleasure of 
visiting the Spring Creek and SLate Hill factories, in 
Montgomery county, under the charge of Mr. Alex- 
ander Macadam. Mr. Macadam's father is an old 
cheese-maker, who learned the Cheddar process from the 
celebrated English dairyman, Mr. Joseph Harding, of 
Somerset, about 1855. The son has had all the ad- 
vantages of the father's experience, and, in addition to 
an active, inquiring and practical turn of mind, has had 
experience in one of the heaviest cheese houses in Lon- 
don. If any one knows what good cheese is, and what 
is required by the English taste, as well as by the 
American market, wc tliink Mr. Alexander Macadam 
does. He is, besides, intelligent, free and communica- 
tive — ready to impart any information within his knowl- 
edge. We propose to give as intelligible an account 
of his process as we were able to pick up in our brief 
visit. But, as he adopts in part the American method, 
and humors considerably American ideas, we will first 
give a brief description of the real Cheddar process, as 
explained in a pamphlet written by Mr. Robert Mac- 
adam, of Gorsty Hill Dairy, Crewe, who is the father 
of our host : 

In describing the process of checse-malving, it is 
necessary to keep in view some definite size of dairy ; 
and for this reason, we will allude in the present section 
to one making cheese from the milk of 60 cows. 

As detailed in the paragraph on the morning's oper- 
ations, the evening's milk having cooled down to 62**^, 
is lifted and sieved into the cheese tub, and the morn- 



CHEDDAR DROCESS. 108 

ing's milk added to it, as it comes from the cow-house. 
If the temperature of the milk, when thus mixed, be 
under 78^, it must be raised to that degree of warmth, 
as from 78^ to 80^ is the best temperature at which 
milk can be set for coagulation. This may be effected 
either by warming a portion of the milk among hot 
water to any temperature not above 150°, or, when the 
cheese- tub is double-bottomed, by introducing a jet of 
steam, or allowing the hot water to circulate. The 
quantity of milk in the cheese-tub being one hundred 
and sixty-five gallons, the requisite quantity of annotto 
is now added, and carefully mixed, to produce a rich 
straw or cowslip color. Five quarts of sour whey being 
added, and a quantity of rennet sufficient to coagulate 
the mass of milk in. sixty minutes, the whole is gently 
stirred and completely mixed, covered over with a 
clean cloth, and allowed to stand for coagulation. After 
the milk has stood for fifteen minutes, tlie top or sur- 
face should be gently stirred, to prevent the cream from 
ascending, and this must be repeated if the curd is long 
in beginning to form. Hence it is preferable that the 
coaguLation should be completed in from fifty to sixty 
minutes, as otherwise a Avasto of richness is likely to 
ensue. AVhen the cream shows a decided tendency to 
rise to the surfiice, it is advisable to skim it off, previous 
to lifting the evening's milk, and warm it to a tempera- 
ture of 95°, as this prevents it from ascending, and 
causes it to amalgamate more completely with the mass 
of milk set for coagulation. In stirring the milk to 
prevent the cream from ascending, the strictest atten- 
tion should be observed to abstain from doing so if the 
slightest degree of coagulation is perceived. As soon 
as the curd has acquired a moderate degree of firmness, 
the operation of breaking- up should be at once com- 
menced, and must be performed carefully, gently and 
minutel}^ This may be accomplished by one person 
in about thirty minutes, when the revolving knife 
breaker is employed, or by two persons in about the 
same time, when' the shovel or wire-breakers are used. 
Before this operation is finished, a quantity of whey 
must be taken from the cheese-tub, heated to 150°, and 



104: HINTS ON CIIEESE-^rAKING. 

again poured upon the mass, stirring being actively 
kept up beneath the stream, to prevent any portion of 
the curd from being scalded. The quantity thns heated 
must be sufficient to raise the temperature of the con- 
tents of the cheese-tub to SO"*', and the whole must be 
carefully and completely mixed. The addition of warm 
whey raises the temperature, and consequently hastens 
tlie separation of the whey from the curd, and assists 
in promoting the necessary acidity. [If, however, the 
presence of acidity can be detected by the smell or 
taste, no warm whey should be used at this stage of the 
process.] Tlie curd being broken to a sufiicient degree 
of fineness, it is allowed to remain undisturbed for one 
hour, except when the acid exists in too great a degree, 
in which case it should only stand during the time oc- 
cupied by warming the whey for scalding. The whey- 
separator is then inserted, and the liquid allowed to 
run off until the surface of the curd appears among the 
whey, after which the separator is taken out, and the 
curd properly broken up with the shovel-breaker. But 
before breaking up the curd, a quantity of whey should 
be heated to 150'-', for the purpose of scalding it. One 
person pours a portion of this hot whey over the curd, 
while another stirs actively beneath the stream v/ith a 
shovel-breaker. The hot wliey is poured cautiously 
over the mass at intervals, and the stirring is kept up 
gently but briskly, until the temperature is raised 
gradually to 98"-^ or 100^ Fah. The stirring is continued, 
and the temperature maintained, until the curd acquires 
a certain degree of firmness and consistency, which it is 
difficult to describe, but v,diicli the intelligent cheese- 
maker soon learns to recognize by its appearance, and 
by its peculiarly elastic feel wdien handled. It is there- 
fore of the utmost importance to possess the discrimin- 
ation and tact necessary for discerning when the proper 
degree of firmness and consistency has been attained. 
When the curd is sufficiently "cooked," it is in small 
granular particles, firm and- elastic to the touch, and 
when a portion is taken in the hand and scjueezed, it. 
does not readily adhere, but separates into particles. 
The stirring must be continued till this peculiar con- 



CHEDDAR PROCESS. 105 

sistency is attained, without any regard to the length 
of time, but should on no account be farther prolonged, 
because the cheese will then have a tendency to be 
hard and stiff, and will require a longer time to mature 
in the cheese-room. The length of time required for 
stirring varies according to the previous condition of 
the milk, being from twenty to thirty minutes when the 
acid exists in a sufficient degree, or even double that 
time when the natural process of change in the milk 
has been slow. This process of saturating the curd 
with heated whey has the effect of completely separat- 
ing the solid and fluid parts, the only moisture left 
being that which adheres to the particles, and which 
comes away under pressure. But when the tempera- 
ture is raised in this manner, or by heat from the bot- 
tom of the cheese-tub, the utmost care is necessary to 
keep the curd from being over-scalded, as, when the 
temperature is too suddenly raised, part of buttraceous 
matter may be lost, and the small pulpy particles get 
skinned over, inclosing a quantity of the whey, which 
it is extremely difficult again to separate. If the milk 
has been in proper condition to begin with, and the 
process carried on in the manner thus detailed, the curd 
will retain all the natural richness of the milk, and the 
cheese produced will have that rich creamy taste and 
sweet milky flavor, something like the odor of new 
milk, known as the Gheddar flavor. When the curd 
is raised (in the manner described above) to the natural 
heat of the milk (98^,) or only one or two degrees above 
it, all the butter is retained and ffxed in the curd ; for 
although subjected even at first to a pressure of half a 
ton, little or no trace of butter will appear. This is 
unquestionably a more rational and far superior method 
of separating the whey from the curd than that of heat- 
ing beside a fire or in a furnace, with its attendant 
skewerings and changings. 

The next step in the continuation of the process is to 
insert the separator, after the curd has been allowed to 
remain undisturbed, in the scald for the space of thirty 
minutes. After the whey is run off, the curd is thrown 



100 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING, 

up into a licap in the center of the cheese-tub, covered 
over with a clean cheese-cloth, and the whey allowed 
to drain away from it for another half-hour. At the 
end of that time the curd is cut across, turned over in 
square lumps, heaped up, covered as before, and then 
allowed to lie for half an hour longer. The curd is 
then taken from the cheese-tub, laid upon a cooler, 
split by the hand into thin flakes, and spread out to 
cool. The curd at this stage has a distinctly acid smell ; 
it is slightly sour, and by no means palatable ; and its 
taste and appearance are such as would lead a novice 
to think it unlikely to produce a fine cheese. AVhen 
the curd has been exposed on the cooler for fifteen 
minutes, it is turned over, and allowed to lie for the 
same length of time. It is then packed into a cheese- 
vat, having a clean cloth under it, placed under the 
press for the space of ten minutes, and subjected to a 
pressure of half a ton. When taken out, it is ground 
in the mill, weighed, and returned to the cooler, and if 
the acid is sufficiently developed, it should be at once 
salted, cooled down to about 65*^, and placed under 
pressure. The purest refined salt should be used, and 
should be weighed and carefully mixed with the mass, 
one pound of salt being sufficient lor fifty-six pounds 
of curd. 

When the acid is found to be insufficiently developed 
in the previous stages of the process, the curd is allowed 
to lie unsalted, and is stirred up occasionally, until the 
necessary degree of acidity is acrpiired. The curd is 
then finally put into the cheese-vat, and at onco put 
under pressure, at first under a weight of five or six 
cwt. The cheese is taken out of the press in the even- 
ing, and a clean cloth put upon it, and being turned in 
the vat, is subjected to a pressure of half a ton. Next 
morning, it is again taken out, wrapped in a dry cloth, 
reversed in the vat, and returned into the press with 
four cwt. additional pressure placed upon it. On the 
following morning it receives its third and last cloth, 
and when placed in the press, is now subjected to the 
pressure of 18 cwt. In the evening, it is once more re- 
moved from the press, gets a calico cap neatly stitched 



CHEDDAR .PROCESS. 107 

upon it, is reversed in the vat, placed under a pressure 
of one ton till the following morning, and is then 
finally taken from the press. The cheese is then 
tightly bandaged to preserve its proper shape, and being 
ticketed with its date and number, is carried to the 
cheese-room, where it must be turned every day until 
fally ripe for market. Cheeses may alwaj'S be in the 
store-room in seventy-two hours after they are first put 
into the press, and, indeed, they might be placed there 
much earlier ; only to insure consolidation, it is prefer- 
able to maintain the pressure during the time specified. 

A diary or register should be kept, into which the 
date and number of each cheese should be formally en- 
tered, together with such remarks as may be needful 
and proper concerning the condition of the milk, and 
the peculiarities of the curd, &c. The cheese-maker, 
when testing the quality of any cheese after it is ripe, 
may learn from the register the precise conditions of its 
manufacture, and will thus be assisted in attaining that 
degree of excellence which was laid down in the begin- 
ning of this work as a proper standard or quality." It 
wiil also be found highly useful to note down many 
similar facts, such as the various yields of milk at par- 
ticular seasons, and from different kinds of pasture or 
house-feeding, as the practice will not only give wide 
views of the subject, and correct information regarding 
it, but will also tend greatly to foster accurate and busi- 
ness-like habits. 

It is necessary to state distinctly the mode of proce- 
dure best adapted for tliis contingency, because the 
over-acidity of milk when not detected and duly at- 
tended to in the process, produces a corresponding 
blemish in the cheese. 

In very warm weather, when the temperature of the 
evening's milk stands in the morning as high as 70 ^ 
or upwards, every part of the process described in the 
previous section must be hastened. The curd is broken 

* " A good cliccso is rich, without being greasy, vnih a sweet, nutty 
flavor; clear, equal color throughout; of a compact, solid texture, with- 
out being waxy ; firm, yet melting easily in the mouth, and leaving no 
rough flavor on the palate." 



108 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

more spsedily than usual, and wliey is taken off as soon 
as possible, and quickly warmed for scalding. When 
the operation of breaking is concluded, an interval of 
only live minutes is allowed before the whey is run off. 
Scalding is then proceeded with, but, under these cir- 
cumstances, the curd and whey should only be raised 
to the temperature of 98 ^ . When the proper degree 
of firmness has been attained by stirring, the rest of the 
whey is run off after another interval of five minutes, 
and when the curd is heaped up, ten minutes only are 
allowed to elapse before it is cut across and turned 
over. At the end of other ten minutes, it is laid upon 
the cooler, in five minutes more it is turned over, and 
at the end of other five it is put into the vat and under 
the press. Having been subjected to pressure for five 
minutes, the curd is taken out, ground in the mill, put 
back into the cooler, and salted. It is then stirred up 
to cool, until the temperature of the mass is reduced to 
66 ^ , when it is placed in the vat, and subjected to the 
ordinary routine of . pressure. It may be stated, in 
illustration of the time occupied by these operations, 
that if the curd be ready for breaking at eight o'clock, 
it may be milled and salted by eleven. By expedi- 
tiously conductiug every stage of the process, excellent 
cheeses may be produced, even at the above tempera- 
ture ; but when the ordinary time is allowed to elapse 
before the curd is " cooked" and salted, the cheeses 
will likely be sour. These rules and statements are 
based on the safe ground of personal experience, for in 
a very warm season we have made upwards of forty 
tons of cheese without one beino' sour. 

o 

In these days of dispatch and outward dls23lay, when 
men seek so eagerly for the shortest and easiest ways 
of doing things, some will doubtless be found to carp 
at the minuteness and extent of the foregoing details, 
and at the repeated injunction to strive after a clear and 
intelligent conception of the principles on which this 
branch of industry is founded. And many more, 
whose past experience has been little else than a slothful 
compliance with false rules and prejudices, may, per- 
haps, censure the system as too abstruse and compli- 



CHEDDAR PROCESS. 109 

cated. But all such objections are refuted by the 
simple fact that no common product, made from raw 
material universally the same, varies more in quality 
and value than cheese, from the one cause of difference 
in the skill with which it is made. To attain to excel- 
lence in cheese-making, it is absolutely necessary that 
the hand and the head should work together. 

The Cheddar process, as carried on. at Spring Creek 
factory, is an adaptation of the foregoing to America 
apparatus and implements, with other variations. The 
milk is set in the usual manner, and at the usual tem- 
perature — say, 82 ^ to 8i ^ . It is cut in the usual 
manner, and gradually heated up to 98 ^ . Then the 
whole is allowed to stand, with occasional stirring, until 
the whey is perceptibly acid. The day we were there, 
we found the curd in the whey, and as much changed 
as is generally considered by Americans sufficient for 
dipping and salting. But as soon as a slight change is 
perceptible— indeed, as soon as any one of the hands fan- 
cies it is changed — the whey is drawn off. If the whey 
should still be sweet and the curd soft, there is no 
harm in drawing off the whey. Then one end of the 
vat is raised, the curd is poked away from the lower 
end, and the whey is allowed to drain out. If the curd 
is quite soft, the further separation of the whey is facil- 
itated by cross-cuttings with a large butcher or gro- 
ceryman's cheese-knife. If it is well "cooked," this is 
not necessary. 

At the expiration of half an hour or so — provided 
the whey is not rapidly taking on acid, in which case, at 
the expiration of five, ten, or fifteen minutes, according 
to condition — the curd is cut into pieces six or eight 
inches square, with the knife just mentioned; these 
pieces are split laterally through the middle with the 



110 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

knife ; tlie top and bottom surfaces are put together, 
and the whole piled np along the sides of the vat. 
The object of this operation is to get the cool surfaces 
into the middle, to be influenced by the heat, and to 
give the already heated center contact with the atmos- 
phere. In a little while, the bottom pieces are piled on 
top. The cutting and splitting operation may be re- 
peated at intervals of twenty or thirty minutes until the 
whey that runs from the curd has much the taste of 
sour milk just before it begins to lopper. 

The whey looks white and rich, and is really so ; but 
it is claimed, that there is not as much waste as is 
caused by keeping the curd in the whey and stirring it, 
when the butter and cheese that escape are so diluted 
as not to be noticed. 

AYhen the whey draining from the curd has a de- 
cided sour-milk taste, the accumulation is removed, the 
curd mill is set on the end of the vat, and the large 
square pieces of curd thrown into the hopper and run 
through. The mill tears them into pieces varying in 
size from that of a kernel of corn to a butternut. When 
ground, two pounds and an eighth of salt are sprinkled 
over the curd and stirred in. (Considering the dry 
state of curd, this is really heavy salting — heavier than 
three pounds thrown on the dripping curd, in the usual 
manner.) The salting done, the curd is allowed to 
stand, with occasional stirring, as long as convenient — 
indeed, the lons-er the better. It will take no harm 
after being salted ; and if a curd is at all tainted, or is 
made of sour-milk, and is rather soft, it should be 
allowed to stand as long as possible, and permit -the 
hands to get it to press and ready to bandage the same 
afternoon or evening. 

This is the simple process, as we saw it at Spring 



CHEDDAR PROCESS. ill 

Creek factory. The pressing and curing are not essen- 
tially different from the common methods. Thorough 
pressing, however, is considered essential ; and so is an 
equable temperature in the drying room — which, by 
the way, Mr. Macadam did not have the advantage of, 
as the building was erected on economical principles, 
with a very primitive but thorough system of ventila- 
tion — not under his direction or supervision, however. 

With sour-milk, Mr. Macadam hastens every stage 
of the process, np to the time of salting. When the 
requisite degree of acid is developed, even though the 
heat may not have gone above 90 ^ , and the curd is 
very soft, the whey is drawn off, and the curcLp^eat- 
edly cut into small squares with a knife, to facilitate 
the separation of the whey. The curd is ground, and 
the salt thrown on — ^in less quantity — when the whey 
that drains off has the proper sour milk taste. It is 
then allowed to stand in the vat, and drain and harden, 
as long as the work of the factory will permit. If it 
can remain a couple of days in the press, it is an ad- 
van tao-e. 

The curds prepared in the manner we have been de- 
scribing for good milk, does not have a very promising 
look to an American cheese-maker. It is touo^h and 
stringy, and quite elastic. At least, such vfas the ap- 
pearance of the curd which we saw. It is proper to 
state, however, that it was made of tainted milk, and 
the taint was quite marked in the curd. This, Mr. 
Macadam told us, was the condition of most of the 
milk and curds for some weeks past in that factory ; 
yet, the taint did not show in the cheese on the ranges, 
except in a few instances where the curd had been 
salted a little too sweet, as he thought. 

The great secret of his success, he seemed to think, 



112 HINTS ON CHEESE-MAKING. 

was in getting rid of the wliey early, in allowing a good 
deal of acid to develop, especially in tainted curds, in 
airing the curds and allowing the gases to escape, and 
in salting well. 

Mr. Macadam's cheese, as a general thing, tried 
splendidly. It was firm, flaky, buttery and fine-flavored. 
His opinion is, that American cheese is, as a general 
rule, salted too sweet and too low, for the purpose of 
having it cure quick for market; but it lacks good 
keeping qualities, and verifies the old adage, "Soon 
ripe, soon rotten." It is hard to overcome this desire 
for quick returns ; but he would recommend those who 
wish to improve American cheese, to sour rather more, 
salt a little more, and color a little less — as little as the 
market will allow — as coloring is believed to be posi- 
tively injurious to quality. The tendency should be in 
these directions, in order to make a slower curing, bet- 
ter keeping and better flavored article. 

But, it must be borne in mind, that Mr. MACADAM 
has in view his own process of manufacture, and that 
allowances must be made for different modes. Let each 
be ready to receive hints, make his own experiments, 
and abide by his own decisions. 



BOOK AND JOB PRINTING 

No. 60 Genesee St=, Utioa, N. Y., 

Possesses Extensive Modern Facilities for all kinds of 

And increased attention will be paid to this department, 
under the direction of 

Iw Styles of Type. Borders, k. 

are provided as they appear in the Eastern cities, and the 



iitabllB&ei EtMtatloi 



of the office will be maintained, for 

THE BEST WOEK AT THE LOWEST PEIOES. 
MxiNUFACTUEEKS, 

LAWYEES, 

AND BUSINESS MEN, 

Will have their orders carefully and intelligently filled. 

11 ELLIS H. ROBERTS, Proprietor, 



Mm M0rnmg P^riir 



AISTD DAILY G-AZETTE, 

Nine Dollars a Yeah in Advance, contains more 
reading matter than any other daily published in Central 
New York, including the Fullest and Latest 

CORRESPONDENCE 

From the State and National Capitals, 
and elsewhere, while especial attention is bestowed on 

wmix iiB mmmi iim. 

and a high Literary Standard is aimed at. An 

AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT 

is well maintained especially designed for the 

Dairymen and Farmers 

of the Central and Northern Counties. 

The UTICA HERALD has by far the largest circula- 
tion in the City, and its 

AGGREGATE CIRCULATION IS OVER 12,000. 



¥iaf isi 1 



THE UTICA WEEKLY HERALD 

has, since the first organization of the Dairymen's Association, reported promptly 
and fully all of its proceedings and never more fully and satisfactorily than the 
addresses and debates before the Convention held in Utica in January, 1870. 

The Utica Herald also devotes especial attention to everything connected with 
the dairy interest; to 

Diseases of Cattle and their Cure ; The Manufacture of But- 
ter and Cheese, and to all Improved Processes 
and Apparatus. 
The weekly edition every Tuesday contains the report of the 

LITTLE FALLS MARKET OF THE PREVIOUS DAT. 

The Utica Herald has made the dairy interest a specialty, and in its weekly 
edition devotes to it 

More Space and Attention than any other Paper in the Country. 

At the same time, the Utica Weekly Hbbald aims to be in all respects a 



fllif-il^Si 



MM^ 



Its Editorial -A_r tides 

are accepted and recognized as fitlj^ speaking the Union sentiment, the intelligent 
convictions, and the thoughtful aspirations of the million of people which it rep- 
resents. 

The Utica Herald, in its weekly as well as its morning edition, is pre-emi- 
nently 



c^x. ^^3^ 5:^ ^^3^ 



n^.^:^ ii^i:m3ij2. 



By thorough classification and elaborate condensation it presents the gist of all 
the news in the briefest snace, and the person who reads no other journal, will not 
be ignorant of the current of events, and the movement of men and principles. 



i; 



'mf' 



weekly published in our columns, from Washington, New York, Albany and else- 
where, is not inferior in literary or political interest to that of any other journal 
in the country. 

THE LITERAEY DEPARTMENT 

will receive during the coming year, increased attention, and we trust will deserve 
in even a higher degree than heretofore the encomiums which have been bestowed 
upon it. 

ADVERTISE IN IT. 

Manufacturers and merchants wishing to reach dairymen and producers of but- 
ter and cheese, can do so in no other way so readily and so cheaply, as through the 
columns of the Utica Weekly Heeald. 

THE TER]y:s. 

The Utica Weekly Herald is published at the low price of 



TWO DOLLARS 



YEAR, 



Payment is required in advance. Taking into account the size and character of 
the paper— its political, news, literary and agricultural merits— it is believed that 
this is 

THE ciiea.t»e:st I»A.I»EI1 I»UB1L,IISIIEI>. 

Now is the time to form clubs. Let the circulation be doubled during the cur- 
rent year. 

Address, UTICA 'H^UIIAH), 

60 Genesee Street, Utica, X. Y. 



w 



THE OLD ESTABLISHED 





No. 60 GENESEE ST., IJTICA, N. ¥., 

iMorning Herald Block,) 

Has all the facilities for BINDING BOOKS, new and old, in as good 
style, and at as low prices as can be obtained anywhere in New York or 
elsewhere. 

Many families may gather a respectable library by gathering up their 

Magazines, Newspapers, and other Serials, 

And we are prepared to bind in any desirable style 



Atlantic Magazine, 
Harper's Magazine, 
Knickerbocker Magazine, 
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Peterson's Magazine, 
Home Magazine, 
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Lady's Book, 
Music, 

Library Books, 
Law Books, 
Leslie's Pictorial, 
Harper's Pictorial, 
Ballou's Pictorial, 
Illustrated London News, 



Spencer's History of United States, 

Tallis's Shakespeare, 

Johnson's Shakespeare, 

Boydell's Shakespeare, 

Irving's Washington, 

Lossing's Washington, 

Scripture History, 

Life of Christ, 

Harper's Bible, 

Brown's Bible, 

Fletcher's Bible, 

Virtue's Bible, 

DouAY Bible, 

Encyclopedia of Arts and Sciences, 

Scientific American, 

Hinton's History of United States, 



And all newspapers, whether great or small, as well as collections of 
Pamphlets, Manuscripts, or whatever else is worthy of preservation. 
Books will be bound in any style to suit the taste of our customers in 

Full Turkey Gilt, 

Full Calf, Antique Finished, 

Half Calf, or Half Turkey, 

or in Full Sheep, Full or Half Cloth, with Edges Gilt, Marbled, or 
Sprinkled, as may be desired. 

|^° Books sent by express or otherwise, will receive prompt atten- 
tion. Good Workmanship and Reasonable Pric3S warranted. 



The Largest Fancy Goods House 

IN CENTRAL NEW YORK, 



^w. M« mm 



71 Genesee Street, Utica, 



> 



—DEALER IN- 



FOREIGN & DOMESTIC 



PAITIGI 





Shot Guns, Rifles, Revolvers, Cartridges, 

Ammunition, Fishing Tackle and 

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Description. 

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CALL AlVD SEE MY IMMEiVSE STOCK. 

W. M. STORES, 



READY-MADE CLOTHING ! 



Every ftirmer in this and adjoining counties will find it 
to his advantage to purchase his Clothing of 

C. A. YATES & CO., 

AT THE 

MARBLE BLOCK 

Clothing Store. 

We pay particular attention to the quality of the Cloth, 
have every garment substantially made, and guarantee 
durability. We also keep the 

LARaEST STOOK OF OLOTHmG 

in this section of the country, and can therefore give the 
advantage of an immense variety. Our prices will at all 
times be the lowest in the market, and goods will, be 
freely shown, whether for the purpose of buying at the 
time or at some future time. We therefore invite all to 
call and see our store and stocTc, and to learn our prices. 
Particular attention paid to 

l@it¥s ill B®fs' StelMif. 

The most extensive assortment in the county can be 
found at our store. 

When in search of Clothing, Tiooh for the Marhle 
Bloch^ 

No. 54 Genesee St., Utica, N. Y. 

O. A, YATES &, CO. 



▲niEiflAi 



OVERSEAMING AND SEWING MACHINE. 

The cheapest as well as the best, since it combines a Button Hole, Overseaming^ 
and Sewing Machine, in one simple form, making either the Loclc Stitch or Button 
Hole Stitch, as occasion may require ; doing every variety of pewing in a Supekior 
Mankeb, and in addition works a most perfect Button Hole and Overseams nicely. 

Received a First Premium at the New York State Fair, and numerous other 
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Knits Hosiery of all sizes. Sets up its oicn work. Knits the Heel and narrows off 
the Toe, and knits a pair of socks in thirty minutes. 

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"Will make four distinct webs, thus enabling the operator to do a great variety of 
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For samples of work, and circulars of both Sewing Machine and Knitting Ma- 
chine, address, 



(BUTTERFIELD HoUSE.) 



H. J. HILLIARD, 

205 Genesee St., itka. 



HOTV^ES & OLA.RK, 

Real Estate Brokers, 

178 GENESEE STREET, 



Z. M. HOWES 
B. A. CLARK 



:■[ 



\W^^ 



^m 



-•-^♦^^»- 



Agents for Sale, Purchase, Leasing, Care, and Man- 
agement of Eeal Estate, 

Mortgages Negotiated and Investments Made* 

FIRE, LIFE AND ACCIDENTAL INSURANCE IN FIRST CLASS COMPANIES. 

Deeds, Mortgages and Zeases Drawn and ^Executed. 



%\t §£st §m^ f ag^I 



At a recent meeting of the Farmers' Club, of the 
American Institute, in New York City, a correspondent 
asked for 



II 



^ll< 



it Wm 



IN THIS COTJNTEY 

D[yOTEOTOTIl[OAmm[ST?" 

Mr. F. D. CURTIS, Vice President of the State 
Agricultural Society, answered, and it went on record 
as the 

SENTIMENT OF THE CLUB: 



ki 



M 



51 



THEE 



UTICl mim HERl 



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IS ONLY 



TWO DOLLARS A YEAR, IN ADVANCE. 







POETABLE STEAM E^^^INES, 

From 4 to 20 Horse Power. 

if ATIOHABI llOIli 

From 4 to 500 Horss Power. 



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Circular Saw Mills, ^&g, ^ 

Boilers Especially Adapted to Cheese Factories 

On Hand or Furnished on Short Notice. 

Having one of the Oldest, Largest and Most^Complete 
Works in -the United States, esj^ecially adapted to ^the 
mannfacture of Engines, Boilers, Saw Mills, &c., we are 
able to furnish them, 1)mlt of the very best materials, 
and at the lowest prices at which work in any way equal, 
can be obtained. 

2^^ Prices furnished on application. 

Wood & Mann Steam EnginelCo., 

1-2 UTICA, K Y. 




WILLBAM RALPH & CO., 

173 & 175 Genesee St., 

MANUFACTURERS OP AND DEALERS IN 

OHEESE-FAOTORY AND FARM 
TOOLS, IMPLEMENTS 

AND 

FURTsTISHIISra aOOTDS, 

SUCH AS 

CHEESE VATS FOR FACTORIES, 

CHEESE VATS FOR DAIRIES, 
FACTORY WARMING AND 

VENTILATING APPARATUS, WATER-HEATERS, 
WEIGHING CANS, CARRYING CANS 

CHEESE PRESSES, PRESS SCREWS, 

WOOD PRESS HOOPS, METALLIC PRESS HOOPS, 

MILK AGITATORS, "AMERICAN" CURD MILL, 
CURD AGITATORS, LACTOMETERS, 

MILK TEST GLASSES, CREAM GAUGES, 

THERMOMETERS, STEEL CURD KNIVES, 

DRAINING SINKS, MILK CONDUCTORS, 

PLATFORM SCALES, IMPROVED TIN MILK PAILS, 
DAIRY PAILS, DAIRY DIPPERS, 

CURD SCOOPS, WHEY STRAINERS, 
RENNET JARS, 

PATENT MILK CAN HANDLES, 

STENCIL PLATES, FACTORY MILK BOOKS, 
ANNOTTA, SCALE BOARDS, 

CHEESE BANDAGE, RENNETS, 

MILK, WATER AND WHEY FAUCETS, 

SINK CASTORS, CHEESE HOOPS, 

HANDLES, &c., &c. 

2^" All articles in our Yai2 arc of the best kinds and mo.it approved 
patterns, and our prices as low as first class goods can be furnished, 

2;^° Plans, Estimates, &c., for Cheese-Factories and Dairies, together 
with other information pertaining thei-eto, will be cheerfully furnished to 
parties interested, on application. 



RALPH S ONEIDA CHEESE VATS 

For Cheese Factories & Farm Dairies. 

ADAPTED TO ALL (LASSES, HOWEVER LARGE OR SMALL. 



{See cat of 600 gallon, factory size, on cover.) 

This Cheese Vat is constantly growing in favor as its merits become 
known; it is now used in about 500 Cheese Factories and 1400 Dairies. 
From its construction and principle of operation — differing essentially 
from all others, — a larger amount of cheese from a given amount of 
milk can be made with it, with a much less consumption of fuel and 
labor. By it the heat is perfectly controUable, and distributed absolutely 
equal in every part, except that there is a slightly less amount at the 
bottom of the Milk Vat; this is effected by the " EQUALIZER"— which 
is not used in any other apparatus, — and is an advantage duly appreciated 
by all good cheese-makers. 

These Vats are complete and ready for use on attaching smoke pipe, 
involving the use of no steam-boiler or pipes, brick arches or other expen- 
sive apperienance; are quite simple in arrangement, strong and durable 
in construction. 

Send for Descriptive Circular and Price List. 

T^^lVd:. R^LPEE & CO., 
TTTIO.A., 3sr. -sr. 



CHEESE FACTORY 



m & VENTILATING APPARATUS. 



WE WOULD INVITE ATTENTION TO THIS ARTICLE : 

It is admirably adapted to securing a proper condition of the atmos- 
phere in the curing-room to facilitate the curing of the cheese, particularly 
in cool and damp weather, in spring and fall, giving 

A Soft Genial Temperature Throughout the Building, 

favorable to a rapid and proper ripening of the cheese ; there being no 
more heat near the heater than in remote parts of the room. By a 
suitable inlet and ventiducts, air from the outside may be conducted to 
the heater and from thence distributed to all parts of the curing-room, 
expelling the old and perhaps tainted air from the building. For further 
information address, 

TV^JM. RA-Ll^H & CO., 

WHOA, W* ¥. 




JONES & FAULKNER'S 

^ :i) ifiinitel|iiig ^tore, 

No. 141 GENESEE STREET, 

W Tie At M. ¥« 

We b3g leave to call your attention to our stock of Dairy Furuisliing 
Goods, being the only complete assortment in this line to be found in 
the United States, Believing we can make it an object for you to pur- 
chase of us, we earnestly solicit your patronage. 

We shall issue our Price List about the 1st of March. Those sending 
their names to us, will receive a copy of the same by mail. 

CHEESE VATS. 

VTE SELL 

Ralph's and O'Neil's Patent Vats, Bagg's, Miller's, and Schermer* 
horn's Patent Heaters, at Manufacturers' prices. 

HOOPS. 

ALL SIZES. 

Improved Hard Wood, Extra Hooped with Iron, Welded and Riveted 
Bands, and Malleable Handle.?, also Galvanized Hoops. 

SCREWS. 

ALL STYLES AND SIZES. 

WrouglU Iron, au.l of superior manufacture. 

BANDAGE. 

ALL WIDTHS. 

26, 28, 34, 36, 38 and 40 inch, Bleached and Unbleached. 
Linen Strainer and Linen and Cotton Press and Cap Cloth, also 
Bleached and Brown Sheetings. 

STONE RENNET JARS. 

Sizes 8, 10, 12, 15 and 20 gallons. 

WEIGH and CARRYING CANS. 

ALL SIZES. 

With Patent Bottoms, and extra heavy Tin. 

Burnap's Concave Can Bottoms and Convex Tops, best thing made. 

DAIRY KNIVES. 

Young's celebrated Two Elged, Cast Steel, best in use, all sizes, with 
Perpendicular and Horizontal Blades. 



ANNOTTO. 

Common, Medium, and Extra Fiae, also Liquid Aunato. 

BENNETS. 
American ani Imported, of sujierlor qudiiy and strength. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Factory Account Books, all Sizes. 
Curd Scoops, wood and tin. 

Rubber and Tin Sypbons and Strainers. 
Rubber Mops and Aprons. 

Improved Per Cent. Lactometers. 
Alkali and Spirit Meters. 
Legal Instruments for detecting impurities in Milk. 

Glass Test Tubes. Cheese and Butter Tryers. 

Indelible Marking Paste, red, blue and black. 
Stencil Plates and Brushes. 

Factory Brands. Factory Slates. 
Factory Soldering Irons. 
Weigh Cm Gates, 3 in. Dairy Dippers. 

Milk and Hot Water Faucets, all sizes. Conductor Heads. 

Scale Boards, all sizes. 

Wood, Iron and Lead Water Pipes 
and Steam Pipes. 
Curd Sink Castors. McAdams' English Curd Mills. 

Platform Scales. Potash and Concentrated Lye. 

New Style Brass Thermometers. 

Finally, every article used by Cheese Factory and Dairymen, pertain- 
ing to the manufacture of Cheese. 

We aslo sell the Annual Reports of the American Dairymen's Asso- 
ciation, and McAdams' explanation of the Cheddar System. 

Factorymen wishing Cheese-Makers, will do well to apply to us, as we 
have a list of First Class Makers desiring situations. 

Cheese-Makers who are competent, and can give satisfactory refer- 
ences, may do well to make application to us. 

\^^° Goods ordered from us will be carefully packed and shipped as 
directed to any part of the World. 

JONES & FAULKNER, 

No. 141 GENESEE STREET, 
12* XJTICA., N. Y. 



GRE^T REDUCTIOISr 



IS THE PRICE OP 



1 



Some of the BARGAINS to be found at the 

C5-REAT ^I^AMBKOB^e 

CALL AND INSPECT THEM. 

BLACK BROADCLOTH FROCKCOATS, Only Seven Dollars . 

HEAVY BLACK DOESKIN PANTS, Only Four Dollars. 

FINE BLACK DOESKIN VESTS, Only Two Dollars and Fifty Cents. 

HEAVY STOUT PANTS, (BLACK OR MIXED,) Only Three Dollars 

HEAVY MOSCOW BEAVER OVERCOATS Only Fifteen Dollars 

HEAVY AND WARM OVERCOATS, Only Six Dollars and Fifty Cents 

GOOD ALL WOOL OVERCOATS, Only Seven Dollars. 

HEAVY ALL WOOL SACKCOATS, Only Six Dollars. 



A LARGE STOCK OF BOYS' CLOTHING, 

A Good Sliarc at Cost, and part Less thaa Cost, 



m 



A Splendid Assortment of 



1^ 



Cheaper tlian at any other Store. 



The New and Elegant "IRVING " PAPER COLLAR Only Ten Cents per Box. 

FINE LINEN COLLARS, Only One Dollar and Ffty Cents per Dozen, 

GOOD WHITE SHIRTS Only One Dollar Each. 

QUAKER CITY FINE SHIRTS, the Best Shirts in the United States. 

Those Made from New York Mills Muslin, Only Three Dollars Each . 

From Wamsutta Muslin, Only T^vo Dollars and Seventy-five Cents. 

Lower Grades of the same raalsc, at Two Dollars and Fifty Cents and 

Two Dollars Each. 

Doii'! Fail to Exaniisic tli?sc Sliirts—lt may be an Advantage to loii. 

FINE WHITE WRAPPERS AND DRAWERS, Only One Dollar Each 

HEAVY MIXED WRAPPERS AND DRAWERS, Only Fifty Cents Each . 

CALL AT THK 
THE MODEL CLOTHING- STORE, 

110 §6 112 Genesee St.jUticajN.Y. 

CHARLES C. KmCSLEY. 




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V. B. STEV7ART & CO., 

Maira£)etii;'or.> of and Dealers in 

O Xj O .^SL S^ S8, 

DRY 8i FANCY GOODS, 

Silks, Shawls, Dress Goods, Oloakings, 

CAEPMS, ©III CliOMS, HATi, &0., 

Nos, 168 & 168 CSencsec Street, Itica. ^^ Y. 



CHAMBERLAIN & CUSHMAN 



-GENERAL AGENTS FOR THE 



Singer's Sewing Machines 



-AND- 



BICKFORD FAMILY KDITTIHG MiCHffl 



E, 



FOR THE COUNTIES OF 



Chenango, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Oneida, Otsego 
and St, Lawrence. 

lis IINISIE STt, WlliA, H. ¥. 

The Celebrated Singer Family Sewing Machine, one of the oldest and 
most reliable Sewing Machines in use. It has been vei-y much improved 
in the past year, making it the most quiet and easiest running shuttle 
machine now in use. It is adapted to a greater range of work than any 
other one machine, sewing from the finest tuck in Tarliton to a heavy 
Beaver coat. Its Attachments for Hemming, Braiding, Cording, Tuck- 
ing, Quilting, Felling, Trimming, Binding, Ruffling and Embroidering, 
are novel and practical, and have been invented and adjusted especially 
for this Machine. There is now nearly 400,000 in use. There is now 
being made and sold over 4,000 machines each week, which is one of 
its best recommendations over other machines. It is perfectly simple 
and easy to learn. Don't fail to see one before purchasing a machine. 



CHINE 



"Will Knit 15,000 stitches or 18 inches of Perfect 
"Work in a Minute. 

Stocks complete and whole with doable heel and toe. Strips from 
1 to 12 inches wide, with selvedge on each edge. Fringe of any 
length, Co;\l of any size, and Tufting of any style. 



30 DOLLARS. 



70 GENESEE ST., UTIGA, N. 









w 



'"ATeilEs, 



COMPSISIXG Till 






H^ 










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>i.A ", I ITO^ UTltA 



ALL AT FACTORY PRICES, 



In Go 









In SOLID SILVER WARE, of Goiliam Manufacture, and in FINE 
SILVER PLATED WARE, of Rogers & Bros, make, we have a great 
variety of the veiy best patterns. 

In ELEGANT JEWELRY we have the newest and most desirable 
patterns, consisting of 

Gold Chains, Sets-Pins and Ear-Rings, Finger- 
Rings, Lockets, Bracelets, Sleeve- 
Buttons, Studs, &c., &c. 

Purchasers of any articles in our line are invited to give us a call. 
All goods warranted. 

W. S. TAYLOR £l CO.. 70 Genesee St. 



THE &E]SrXJIN"E 

OR, 




Hemmer, ^^^ \^ ^^eRF %^^ Corder, 

Feller, ^/v>^^^^^ (adjustable foot,) 

Binder, J f^ ^SM % S Embroidery 
Braider, 

Quilter, 
Self-Barter J ""^^f^R^^ - and Gage. 




Attacliment, 



SOLD ONLY AT 

OVERTON & BUCKINGHAM, Agents. 

N. B. — None genuine without tlie Trade Mark, (Medallion Profile of 
Elias Howe, Jr.,) is imbedded in the Machine. This is the GENUINE 
HOWE. Prof. " Elias Howe, Jr., the inventor, has 

The Exclusive Rii^ht to Make and Sell this Machine/' 

Decision, Judge Ingraham — May, 1867. 



Aioarded the Gntad Cross of the Legion of Hono)\ 
the Grand Gold Medal and a Silver Medal, Paris M&- 
l^osition, 1867; the Grand Gold Medal, London, 1862; 
Six First Premiums, N. Y. State Fair, 1867, o^ Machhie 
and Samples of TForA'. 

Also, the following STATE FAIRS of 1868, have awarded this 
Machine the 

FIRST I^RK^IIXJM: : 

New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts. 
Vermont, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Indiana. 

At the County Fairs of Madison, Onondaga, Oswego, Wayne, Orleans, 
Tompkins, Seneca, Monroe, Herkimer, Schuyler, Livingston and a host 
of others, and Town Fairs too numerous to mention. 

Agents for the NEW WILLISTON THREAD, 
'made of Combed Sea Lsland Cotton. 



PEtKIUM'S POfyUB COOMG SIOVE, 







New Patent Movable Reservoir, Xew Patent Sectional Fire-Plate, Xew Patent 
Sad Iron Heater, New Patent Roaster. All Valuable Improve )nents. 
Call and Examine the Stoves and get Circulars with Testimonials. 

MAKUFACTXJEED AKD SOLD BY 



J. S. & M. PECKHAM, 

20 Catharine St., Itiea, N. Y. 




This Furnance is used to great advantage by Cheese-Makers, Farmers, Butchers, 
Bakers and Hotel Keepers, and for various other Manufacturing and Mechanical 
purposes. 

The Flues of this Boiler are so constructed that the whole surface of the Caldron 
is heated at the same time. The\^ are portable, and require only a few lengths of 
pipe to fit them for use, and possess great advantages over Caldron Kettles set in 
brick. 

J. S. & E¥i, PECKHAM, 

Bole Maiiiifiutareris, Itica, N. Y. 



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8 PlilOi HARf ESTER 



OF ^MERIC^. 




iif»»t»!r^^ 



— -^->--» giKldM 



ON THF. ROAD. 



THE ORIGINAL AND ONLY PREMIUM 



U 





Awarded the Highest Premium iDotli in Mowing and 

H<elf-JRalung ^ at t]ic ^nost important field trials ever held 
in any country. 

Over 125,000 now in use. 

30,000 sold in a sing'le season. 

MANUFACTURED BY 

j\.T3Rr^V]SrOE, P'JL.A.TT &. CO., 

FOK 

J. M, CHILDS & CO., UTIOA; N. Y. 

Office, 121 Genesee Street. 
U^^ Circulars forwarded bv mail. 



HINTS 



ON 



'CHEESE-MAKING,' 






I 



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FOR THE 



Al 



Dairyman, the Factoryman, 



I 



AND THE 






M^NUF^CTURER.^ 



I 
I 



BY T. D. CURTIS. 






TJTICA, N. Y. 
ROBERTS, PRINTER, MORNING HERALD ESTABLISHMENT. 

1870. 



^^ — :F^^}p^- 



?^^Si^^^ 



THE BEST DAIRY PAPER! 

At a recent mooting of tho Farmers' Club, of the American Institute 
in Now York City, a correspondent asked for " THE BEST PAPER IN 
THIS COUNTRY 
DEVOTED TO THE DAIBY INTEBBST?" 
Mr F D. CCETIB, Vice-President of the State Agricultural Society, 
answired, and it went on record as the SENTIMENT OF THE CLUB : 

"THE XJTICA HERALD-" 

THE 

Is Only Two Dollars a Year, in advance. 



Mi lAIElHlW'S WM 



m 



uiE 



UTICA WEEKLY HERALD 



lias, since the first organization of tlie Dairymen's Association, reported promptly 
and fully all of its proceedings and never more fully and satisfactorily than the 
addresses and debates before the Convention held in Utica in January, 1870. 

The Utica Heeald also devotes especial attention to everything connected with 
the dairy interest; to 

Diseases of Cattle and their Cure ; The Manufacture of But- 
ter and Cheese, and to all Improved Processes 
and Apparatus. 
The weekly edition every Tuesday contains the report of the 

LITTLE FALLS MARKET OF THE PREVIOUS DAY. 

The Utica Heeald has made the dairy interest a specialty, and in its weekly 
edition devotes to it 

More Space and Atteution than any otlier Paper in the Country. 

At the same time, the Utica Weekly Heeald aims to be in all respects a 

fIlif-Sa4iS f 4M11¥ f 4F11. 

Its Editorial A.rticles 

are accepted and recognized as fitly speaking the Union sentiment, the intelligent 
convictions, and the thoughtful aspirations of the million of people which it rep- 
rcspnts 

The Utica Heeald, In its weekly as well as Its morning edition, is pre-emi- 
nently 



,^\, ^sim^^^ 



n^siCL iipi:^ n^^ 



By thorough classification and elaborate condensation it presents the gist of all 
the news in the briefest soace, and the person who reads no other journal, will not 
be ignorant of the current of events, and the movement of men and principles. 

THl iiBEliPtlfl'lSiE 

weekly published in our columns, from "Washington, New York, Albany and else- 
where, is not inferior in literary or political interest to that of any other journal 
in the country. 

THE LITERARY DEPARTMENT 

will receive during the coming year, increased attention, and we trust will deserve 
in even a higher degree than heretofore the encomiums which have been bestowed 
upon it. 

ADVERTISE IN IT. 

Manufacturers and mercliants wishing to reach dairymen and producers of b'H- 
ter and cheese, can do so in no other way so readily and so cheaply, as through the 
coiurans of the UtidA Weekly Heeald. 

THE TERMiS. 

The Utica Weekly Hebald is published at the low price of 

TWO DOLLARS A YEAR. 

Payment is required in advance. Taking into account the size and character of 
thei)aper-'it3politlcal,ne-«^s, literary and agricultural merits— it is believed that 
this is 

THE CHEikX»IIlST I»^I»JEI1 I»UI5LTSIIEO. 

Now is the time to form Clubs. Let the circulation be doubled during the cur- 

''"''^''' Address, ZTIICA JUJHALI), 

60 Genesee Street, Itica, IV. Y. 










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